Marissa and Koschei: Renegades Reborn
by TimeLordPrime
Summary: This story is set in my War of the Guardians universe. They were once the notorious renegade Time Lords, The Rani and The Master, but now Marissa Queen and Koschei have both turned away from that dark path and decided to make up for it the best they can. The two of them now seek to move forward into a hopeful new future even as they struggle to overcome the horrors of their past.
1. The Rani's Regret

MARISSA AND KOSCHEI: RENEGADES REBORN

CHAPTER 1

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

THE RANI'S REGRET

The Lakertyans had just had their entire planet freed from the tyranny of the Rani and her Tetrap allies by the mysterious traveler in time and space known only as the Doctor just a few hours ago, and now they were all busy celebrating their newfound freedom inside the Centre of Leisure as Faroon listened to them in heartbroken silence. Faroon had nothing left to celebrate. She had lost everything to gain her peoples' freedom. Her daughter had been killed by one of the Rani's traps while attempting to escape from her forced servitude to her, and her husband had died helping the Doctor stop the Rani's mad scheme to turn their entire planet into a Time Manipulator which she had planned to use to restart time and recreate the universe to make it more to her liking.

She still couldn't believe that her life had been completely destroyed just because some mad Time Lady had gotten it into her head to restart the universe just because she could. Her family had been destroyed just so that the Rani could give some species called the dinosaurs on some planet that she had never even heard of called Earth a second chance. That was just one of the reasons that the Rani gave for wanting to rewrite time. There were so many things that she thought needed changing because she wanted to make a more perfect universe.

Basically her life had been made into a nightmare because the Rani had wanted to play God. No one should have that kind of power. No one should be able to have the ability to destroy lives and property on such a massive scale. No one.

Faroon began to weep profusely, and she went outside in order to avoid being watched by the others who continued to celebrate their newfound freedom. She didn't want to answer questions or to explain anything. All she wanted to do was to be left alone and to be allowed to mourn in peace.

"Hello," a woman's voice called out as soon as Faroon came outside.

She looked ahead of her in surprise to see that it was a beautiful tall brunette who looked human, but yet somehow Faroon could sense that she was no more human than the Doctor had been. She wondered if this was yet another Time Lord like the Doctor or the Rani. Had she come here to investigate the Rani's actions on behalf of her people? No matter what her reasons for being here were Faroon really didn't care. She didn't want to answer the questions of her own people much less those of an alien. She just wanted to leave.

"My name's Marissa. Marissa Queen. I've come here to try to help this planet recover from what the Rani did to it. I just want to apologize on behalf of the Time Lords for what was done to the people here. I'm sorry," Marissa said.

"That's nice. That doesn't bring my family back though, does it? Why don't you go tell the others in there what you have to say? I'm simply not interested. Please let me pass," Faroon said in a cold voice.

"I'm not just saying that, Faroon. I truly am sorry for what you've lost. Perhaps I can make it up to you though," Marissa said.

Faroon looked at her in surprise. How had she known her name? She had never told it to her.

"Who are you? How do you know me?" Faroon asked suspiciously.

"I know all about what happened here. I've studied it extensively so that I could come here to try to make up for it all as much as I could. I came here to make amends for what the Rani did to you," Marissa said.

"So you've come from the future to try to fix the mistakes of the past because the Time Lords feel guilty, is that it? Unless you go back and fix it so that none of this ever happened you're just wasting your time. Nothing can make up for all of this," Faroon said as she tried not to cry in front of this stranger. She was less than successful and cursed herself for letting the other woman see her grief.

Marissa started to cry herself to the surprise of Faroon as she said, "I wish I could. I wish more than anything that I could undo all of this and everything else that the Rani has ever done. I can't though. What was done here has been done. It's a fixed point in time and can't be undone. Not everything about what was done here is fixed though, and those things can and have been rewritten."

"What do you mean?" Faroon asked.

"Mum," Sarn, Faroon's daughter, said as she came running up to her and hugged her tightly.

She was soon followed by Beyus, Faroon's husband.

"I don't understand. How?" Faroon asked in shock.

"I originally went back just a bit further in time than this point and managed to save both of them just before I came here. I stopped Sarn from hitting the trap that would have killed her just before she reached it by using something that my people call the Time Scoop. I installed a version of it in my TARDIS and used it to pluck Sarn out of time and to bring her inside of my ship's Console Room. She almost ran right into my console before she realized where she was. My TARDIS didn't like that much, but I don't care," Marissa said as she smiled at Sarn warmly.

"She saved my life. I almost ran into that trap of the Rani's and died. I was so close. I can't believe that I was so close," Sarn said in an emotional voice.

"I thought you were dead though. I saw a skeleton. I was told by Ikona and the Doctor's companion, Mel, that they saw you die," Faroon said in disbelief.

"What they saw was a robotic duplicate of Sarn that I had the Movellans make for me. They're experts on creating realistic looking androids after all since they are androids. I then used the Time Scoop to put the android in Sarn's place. All of this happened in the blink of an eye so that neither Ikona nor Mel noticed it happening. I was very precise that way so that no one noticed a thing. The duplicate than ran into the trap and was destroyed instead of Sarn. The skeleton that you saw was the robot's. The Movellans make their androids so realistic that they even make an internal skeleton for them based on the original species' skeletal structure. The skeletons look just like the real thing until you examine them up close then you realize that they're not made out of bone or anything else even remotely organic, and they're filled with circuitry. It was a lot of trouble to go through in order to preserve the timeline, but I think it was worth it, don't you? Beyus was much easier. I simply surrounded him with my TARDIS just as the explosion went off that would have taken his life at the same time that it destroyed the Rani's equipment. The TARDIS is a tough old girl. She can take a little explosion even if she doesn't particularly like it very much. That's great. Now I sound like the Doctor. There are definitely worse people to sound like though," Marissa said with a frown.

"You're a friend of the Doctor's?" Beyus asked in surprise.

"Yes. Yes, I am. We've been friends for a very long time now even though I haven't always been a very good one," Marissa admitted.

"I can't thank you enough. I thought I'd lost everything," Faroon said as she moved to hug Marissa in gratitude.

Marissa quickly pulled away from her knowing that she didn't deserve either Faroon's thanks or appreciation. Faroon looked at her in surprise but said nothing further. If this Time Lord didn't want to be rewarded, then that was her own business not hers. She was just so glad that she had done what she had regardless of her reasons for doing so.

"I didn't do this to be thanked. I did it to make amends. That and to make sure that I could restore this world to as much of its previous self as I possibly could. This was the final of several tweaks that I could and therefore did make to the timeline without changing too much, and even this was probably pushing it. It doesn't really matter though. I came here to fix as much as I possibly could, and that's exactly what I did. There's really nothing more to say I suppose. I guess I'll just leave you all to reconstruct your world in peace now," Marissa said as she turned around to walk away.

Then she suddenly turned back around with a huge grin on her face as she said, "Well, I do have one last gift to give you and here it is."

She pulled out a small remote control, and a large robot wheeled towards them. It immediately stopped as Marissa pushed a button on the remote to halt its progress.

"I had the Movellans make this for me as well. It's a more traditional robot used in construction. You can use this remote control to make it obey your orders. It will help you rebuild your world much quicker than it otherwise would have been. I hope that it helps you somewhat," Marissa said.

She then proceeded to quickly teach them how to use the robot. She turned to leave without another word as a sense of melancholy suddenly came over her. Making amends never really made her feel better, but then it wasn't supposed to. It was meant to restore what had been destroyed or lost, and that was exactly what she had done here today. Nothing more or less.

She was surprised when Faroon stopped her by suddenly blocking her path.

"Who are you?" Faroon asked her again.

"I already told you," Marissa said as she started to walk around her.

"I don't believe you. No one would go to that much trouble to fix things here unless they had a personal stake in this," Faroon said.

"Your family is back. That's all that matters here today, Faroon. Nothing else," Marissa said.

"Please. Tell me the truth," Faroon said.

"You might not want to hear it. You might be better off not knowing," Marissa warned.

"I think that I already know. I just want to hear it from you," Faroon said.

Marissa took a deep breath and looked her directly in the eye as she talked in a low voice so that only Faroon could hear her, "My original name was Ushas, but I was once the woman that you know as the Rani. I did so many terrible things in the name of my scientific research for so long until I went through the horrors of the Time War. That completely changed my perspective on things, and I finally realized just how wrong that I had been to do so many of the despicable things that I had done in my life. I escaped from the War and hid myself for decades as a human being named Marissa Queen. Then I happened upon my former enemy, the Doctor, once again and was finally made to remember who and what I really was. I kept my human name and abandoned my old one forever as I devoted myself to not only make up for what I had done but to also use my knowledge and skills to help others instead of harm them from now on. I've done exactly that ever since. I know that I can never cleanse myself of the evil that I've done, but that's not what this is about. This isn't about making myself feel better. It never was. It's about making things up to the people that I've wronged. That's the least that I can do after all of the terrible things that I've done."

Faroon looked at her in surprise and horror for a moment, and then her feelings quickly turned to hatred and anger. She had already suspected Marissa's secret, but just thinking that she knew it and actually knowing it were two different things.

Marissa could see all of these emotions quickly flit over her face almost instantaneously and knew that Faroon was getting ready to attack her. She really wouldn't blame her if she did. She would deserve it. Anything that she did to her, she would fully deserve and then some.

"Go ahead. Do whatever you want to me. I won't do anything to stop you. I just want you to know that I truly am sorry. I need you to know that anytime I even think of becoming the Rani again now all I have to do is to think of what I put you and so many others like you through, and I know that I'd never do that again. All I'm trying to do now is to make up for that as best as I can. I don't know if that will make you feel any better or not, but I just had to say it. I'm not saying this to gain your pity or to save my life. I just needed you to know that, Faroon," Marissa said.

She steeled herself for whatever was to come now as she bravely faced Faroon without flinching or looking away from her. She meant what she had said. She wouldn't move to stop her. She knew that she deserved whatever that she got from her.

"You've helped so many others then? It isn't just me?" Faroon suddenly asked after a tense silence.

"Yes, I've helped as many of my former victims as I could. I'm still helping them you see even now. There are so many of them. It'll probably take me the rest of my lives to help them all. It's the least that I can do though," Marissa said.

"Go then. Help the rest of them. I don't think that I can ever truly forgive you for what you did to me and my world, but I do appreciate what you've done to make up for it more than you will ever know," Faroon said.

"If it helps any, I don't think that I'll ever forgive myself either," Marissa said as she finally walked around Faroon and started back toward her TARDIS.

Faroon surprised both herself and Marissa when she said, "I hope someday that you do."

Marissa turned around and smiled at her as she said, "Thank you. Have a good life, Faroon, and try your best to move on from this. I promise you that you'll never see me again so you never have to fear me ever again. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Marissa Queen. I hope that you have a good life too one day," Faroon said as she finally let go of past and moved forward with her life at last.

Marissa wished that she could do the same. She was trying to. Only it wasn't so easy with a past like hers to leave any of it behind.

"Who was she, Mum?" Sarn asked when Faroon came back.

"A good woman who has done some terrible things," was all that Faroon said.

Beyus instantly knew who Marissa had been now and looked at Faroon in shock. He never would have recognized her. She had changed completely from the person who he had known just a few hours earlier and in far more than just her physical appearance. She was like an entirely different woman now.

Maybe Faroon was right. Maybe she was a good woman now or at least maybe she would be one day anyway.

Marissa returned to her TARDIS and was immediately greeted by Koschei who instantly wrapped his arms around her when he saw the look on her face. He silently comforted her just as he had all of the other times before that she had done something like that. He insisted on going with her every time that she did something like this.

It wasn't just for emotional support but to protect her as well. He had been watching Marissa on the monitor and had been ready to act if that woman had attacked her. Whether Marissa felt that she deserved such treatment or not, he knew deep down in his bones that she didn't.

She had completely changed from who she had been and had now become the sweetest, kindest person in the universe. He knew without a doubt that she was no longer who she had been in the past and that she didn't deserve to die for it. She was doing far more good alive now than she ever would dead. Besides that, he loved her with all of his hearts and all that was left of his dark soul, and he knew that he would never allow any harm to come to her. He would rather die himself first.

Marissa broke away from him and gave him a tender kiss in gratitude for his support before she dematerialized the TARDIS. She was now ready to head off to help yet another of her old victims.

This one was going to have to wait for a little while longer though.

Because now the past was coming back to haunt both her and Koschei as she suddenly found herself face to face with the evil woman that she had once been. Literally.

The version of the Rani who had destroyed Lakertya and the version of the Master who corresponded with her that still had the Trakenite body of the father of one of the Doctor's companions were now both facing her and Koschei with confused expressions on their faces. Those confused expressions then quickly turned to ones of anger as the Master pulled out his Tissue Compression Eliminator and pointed it at them.

"Who are you and how have you brought us here? Tell me now or I'll shoot both of you down without mercy!" the Master threatened.

**Next: How did these other versions of Marissa and Koschei suddenly appear inside of the TARDIS? That's a question that our two Time Lords are just going to keep asking themselves over and over again as even more past and alternate universe versions of both of them begin to appear out of nowhere. Who could be behind it all and what is going on? More importantly will our two reformed renegades survive meeting their many less than pleasant past selves long enough in order to find out?**


	2. Universe Can't Have More Than One Master

CHAPTER 2

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you, thank you, thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! I am really pleased at the reaction to this series so far. I appreciate it.**

A UNIVERSE CANNOT HAVE MORE THAN ONE MASTER

"Tell me why you've brought us here or I will kill you both," the Master threatened.

"We didn't bring you here. We're just as shocked as you are," Koschei told his past self.

Why couldn't he remember this? He wondered if Marissa did. Although judging from the look on her face, he was willing to bet that the answer was no.

"Don't lie to me. Tell me what it is that you want, and I might allow you to live. Maybe," the Master said with an evil smile.

"You idiot! They're obviously just as surprised as we are. They're also just as obviously us if you haven't noticed," the Rani said as she rolled her eyes at him.

"What? You mean these are our future selves? Impossible! I don't recognize either one of them," the Master said unconvinced.

"I didn't either at first because my future self has changed so much both inside and out. I would recognize you anywhere though. Your future self hasn't changed anywhere near as much as mine has. What happened to you, dear? Did you use the Chameleon Arch just a little too long and forget who you really are?" the Rani asked Marissa with a smug grin on her face.

"No, it's much more complicated than that. I just finally realized how wrong I was. You will too one day. Even now you have to know it. I know you do. In your weaker moments, the faces of everyone that you've ever destroyed come to you, and they make you cry out in pain and regret in the middle of the night," Marissa said.

"Oh, do please shut up. Who knew in the future that I'd turn out to be such a goody two shoes? I really hope you're just a temporal anomaly of some sort and not my actual future," the Rani said with a sneer.

"Don't pretend not to know what I'm talking about. You remember them. You remember each and every one of them. Their names and faces are burned onto your mind, and they haunt your nightmares each and every night. Don't they?" Marissa asked.

"Shut up. I don't know any of their names," the Rani said.

"You don't? You don't remember Sarn? Or Beyus? How about Luke, George Stephenson's assistant? Remember what we did to him and how we tried to convince the Doctor that it was a good thing? You didn't even believe it when you said it, did you? Don't lie. I know better. How can you talk badly about humanity being carnivores and mourn the lost potential of the dinosaurs if you're truly as amoral as you claim, hmm? You justified everything though and wrote it off because everything you did was your way of saving our sister, Kali. All of your experiments were all part of a coordinated effort to find a way to bring Kali back somehow safe and mentally sound after the Time Lords executed her and yet they all failed. Each and every attempt failed. That didn't matter to you though. Your pain at her loss was so great that you had to keep trying no matter what. How much pain did you cause over your loss? How much more pain came out of your own? It was just senseless! It was just completely senseless!" Marissa shouted.

"Shut up!" the Rani screamed as she lost all sense of self control and started punching Marissa.

The two Time Ladies began to fight with one another with no holds barred, and Koschei could see that Marissa had a huge smile on her face. The usually gentle Time Lady was enjoying this. He realized why though. She was finally getting to let all of her anger at herself out at last because now she finally had a solid target for it all.

Amazingly enough, the Master wasn't trying to stop them. He seemed to be enjoying it too from the look of the huge smile on his face.

"So who do you think brought the two of you here? Should we be worried?" Koschei asked his younger self.

The Master never took his eyes off the two fighting mad versions of Ushas exchanging punishing blows with each other as he said, "It could be the Time Lords. Maybe this is amusing to them somehow. Or they could be gathering us to help them against some even greater threat to them than us? They've called on my services before."

"I don't think that's it. This seems more like something that we'd do somehow," Koschei said.

"That's all the more reason for me to think that it's you doing this," the Master said as he continued to point the TCE at Koschei's hearts.

"Or that's just what someone wants you to think. Someone who knows how our minds work and is probably taking as great a pleasure in all of this as you are at watching the two of them fight," Koschei said.

"They're both fascinating aren't they? Did you ever marry her?" the Master asked.

"No," Koschei admitted with a tone of regret in his voice.

"Why not? What are you waiting for?" the Master asked in annoyance.

"I don't know. I should just do it, shouldn't I? She's the only one you know? She was always the only one," Koschei said.

"I know. That's why she's so fascinating. Seeing two of them fight is just so exhilarating. I prefer the angrier one to your much milder version of course, but I would gladly marry either one of them," the Master said.

Koschei balled his hands up into fists as he tried to fight his jealousy of himself while he asked, "Why haven't you married yours yet then?"

"She doesn't seem to be interested in me anymore. Not really. She just tolerates me and that's all. All she cares about is bringing back that accursed Kali. She's obsessed with her, and it's killed our relationship. Why am I telling you that though? You already know. You seem much closer to your version. How did you do it?" the Master said.

"There's something coming. Something horrible. It will change everything including us forever. That's when we both find out what's most important to us," Koschei said.

"Even then you haven't married her? Tell me the real truth. Say it out loud," the Master asked in disbelief.

"I . . . I'm not worthy of her. She deserves someone better," Koschei finally admitted.

"I know," the Master said as his usual grin became an expression of deep sadness instead.

"Despite that I still want to be with her. I can't imagine my life without her. I'm just selfish I suppose," Koschei said.

"We both are. We always were. We both want what we can't have and what we should never have. It's just who we are. We never accept the word no even when we probably should," the Master said.

"She's never told me no. Then again she's never told me yes either. I sometimes wonder if she's just as scared about our relationship as I am," Koschei admitted.

"Why don't you ask her?" Marissa said from behind him.

Koschei turned around in surprise to see her standing there along with the Rani while the Master laughed at him. He had seen them standing there the entire time of course.

"How long have you been there?" Koschei asked in an embarrassed voice.

"Since you said that you weren't worthy of me. That isn't true by the way. That's never been true. I'm no one special, Koschei. I never have been. All I've ever been good at is causing pain and misery. You could do so much better than me," Marissa said as she looked away from him in shame.

The Master looked at the Rani in surprise as he noticed that she wasn't disagreeing with what her other self was saying in the slightest. In fact, she too was looking away in shame.

Despite the fact that the Master was still holding his TCE directly at him, Koschei took the risk of suddenly turning around and wrapping his arms around Marissa. The Master didn't fire on him amazingly enough. He knew what he was going to do after all. Who better to know?

"Don't you ever say that again. You're the best person I know. You always were," Koschei said in a soft voice as he held her.

The Rani looked to the Master as if silently asking if he felt the same way. He said nothing and showed no reaction whatsoever which made her wonder just what if anything that this man did feel toward her. She actually found herself envying her future self for the first time that day.

Suddenly this quiet moment was interrupted as several more unexpected visitors suddenly arrived in Marissa's TARDIS. Another Master and Rani suddenly appeared who looked just like Marissa and Koschei. They looked around them in complete shock and then the newest Rani said, "I assume from your expressions that you four have no idea what's going on here either."

"No, not in the slightest. Someone is obviously gathering us together to help them for some reason, but your guess is as good as mine," Koschei said.

"It's one of us doing this. It has to be. In fact, it could be one of you two," the Master with the TCE said as he suddenly pointed it at the new arrivals in suspicion.

"A minute ago you thought it was me," Koschei pointed out.

"It could still be you. I still haven't ruled you out completely yet. At the moment though, you seem to be too busy playing Casanova to be much of a threat," the Master said.

"At least he actually says something instead of standing around like an oaf," the Rani that had come with this particular Master said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the Master asked.

"I think you know," the Rani said.

As the two of them began to argue, Marissa asked the newest Rani, "I take it that you're from a parallel universe."

"Yes, we seem to be. We also seem to be closer in attitude to you two than to them. I'd really like to get out of here as quickly as I can because I'm worried about my son so I'd rather us all work together to figure out what's happening so that we can all go home. I'm hoping that you feel that way too," the new Rani said.

"I definitely do. Unfortunately I don't know any more than you do about any of this. You have a son?" Marissa asked.

"Yes, Theta. He's named after . . . Well, you know who he's named after unless this universe is even more alternate from ours than I thought," the newest Rani said smiling.

Marissa relaxed. This Rani was just like her more or less. Finally she had someone that she could talk to in this mess. Maybe the four of them could try to get through to the other two and figure out what was going on instead of wasting precious time fighting.

She rubbed her jaw and smiled as she thought that she really had enjoyed beating the stuffing out of her younger self though. If anyone ever had it coming, it was definitely her. Koschei laughed at her because he knew what she was thinking and gave her a quick kiss on the lips that made her smile in approval.

"So you two are married too?" the newest Rani asked.

"No. No, we're not," Marissa said.

"You should be," the newest Rani said smiling at her.

"We will be soon," Koschei said.

Marissa looked at him in surprise as she said, "We will?"

"If you'll have me," Koschei said.

"I'd never have anyone else," Marissa said.

"Was that a marriage proposal? If it was, it was pathetic," the Master with the TCE said laughing.

"At least he tried," his corresponding Rani said.

"Don't start with me," the Master said.

"Well, was it a marriage proposal?" Marissa asked with a grin as Koschei continued to hold her.

"I'll just call it a promise. I'll make the real proposal later in the more traditional way and at a much better time and place," Koschei said.

"That sounds good to me. I love you," Marissa said.

"I love you too," Koschei said as he kissed her.

Their romantic scene was interrupted yet again as they received yet another new arrival. In fact, several new arrivals at once, and these were not as friendly as the last two had been.

This time a decayed Master in a torn black cloak appeared next to a Master whose body kept fading in and out to be replaced by his skeleton and a Master wearing an expensive black suit and black gloves with a black and white beard on his face. The two of them pointed their own TCEs at the others while the Master who kept fading in and out began to glow with power as he prepared to fire on them with his own life force out of his hands.

"Tell us what's going on here or I'm afraid that we'll simply have to kill you. I don't want to do it that way, but you'll leave me with no other choice," the youngest Master with the black and white beard said.

"Speak for yourself. I'm hungry," the Master who kept flashing in and out said in a crazed voice.

"I have nothing left to lose. I'm dying anyway so what do I care if I take all of you down with me? Tell me what this is all about or I'll fire on your console and blow this entire TARDIS apart," the death like Master said in a cold calculating voice.

"This is about to get very ugly," Marissa said as she and Koschei prepared for a fight.

"It doesn't have to. I can't believe that we become this in the future. Can't we all just get along with each other while we figure this out?" a very young Academy era Ushas said as she stood next to an equally young Koschei.

"Oh, stuff it, kid!" Another Rani with long blonde hair and a very nasty disposition wearing a body length leather outfit said as she held a large staser rifle on all of them.

"Who is that?" Koschei asked Marissa.

"That's the me that was running around alone while you were Mr. Death over there and searching for a new body. It took me forever to find out what had happened to you when your one and only body finally wore out after you gave all your regenerations to save my life. You did a very good job of hiding from everyone at that time even me," Marissa said.

"I never saw that one. I like the outfit though," Koschei said smiling.

"I bet you do. I don't know what I was thinking wearing that thing," Marissa said rolling her eyes at him.

"It looks good to me. Do you still have it?" Koschei said grinning even wider.

"You shut up," Marissa said laughing.

Then they were all silent as they heard a horrible mocking laughter that they all instantly recognized. It was the laughter of yet another Master.

A large holographic face appeared that was identical to Koschei's own and filled the middle of Marissa's Console Room. This Master smiled like a predator as he said, "Hello, there. I bet you're wondering what's going on aren't you?"

"It had crossed our minds, yes," Koschei said.

"I bet and it also seems to have caused quite a few fights as well. I'm surprised that all of you have survived so far. I'd have laid even odds on at least half of you being dead by now," the holographic Master said as he laughed at them.

"You were watching us the entire time," Marissa accused him.

"Of course, my dear. You did a good job kicking in the teeth of your other self by the way. You're not always as sweet as you pretend to be, are you? An excellent job, my dear," the holographic Master said.

"Get to the point. What do you want?" Koschei asked in an annoyed voice as he put a possessive arm around Marissa making her shake her head at him.

As if she would ever leave him.

"Jealous? I don't want your girl. At least not in that way so don't worry about it. I want all of you to come and work for me. Working together all of us will claim complete control of the multiverse. We will be the masters of everything," the holographic Master said.

"What do you get out of it if we're all supposed to rule everything together?" Koschei asked.

"Well, one person has to ultimately oversee everything in the end, don't they? That will be me. I will be the Master of All and you will be my lieutenants and help me to manage your own respective universes once we have conquered everything together. Think about it. All of you. You will be the absolute rulers of your own universes or time zones and will only answer to me. Who better to answer to though than yourself or at least someone that you love and trust anyway in the case of Ushas? It will be as if you yourselves are giving the orders. Will you join me and help me take over all of reality? Give me your answer," the holographic Master said.

All of the Masters and Ranis combined shook their heads in unison as Marissa said, "None of us trust you as far as we can throw you. Who knows what a lying manipulative backstabber that you are better than we do? What exactly were you trying to accomplish by coming here? Surely you knew that."

"I had to try to ask nicely, didn't I? You do know me though so what do you expect that I'm going to do next after you all so graciously denied me?" the holographic Master asked with an evil smile.

"Get ready for anything," Koschei said as he pulled out his laser screwdriver and the other Masters and Ranis quickly followed suit.

"What I can't get by persuasion I can always get by force," the holographic Master said with mocking laughing as several Masters and Ranis suddenly appeared in the Console Room aiming their weapons at them.

"Take them alive. We can always use an extra pair of hands willing or not," the holographic Master commanded.

The newly arrived Masters and Ranis all wore special headsets that flashed and Marissa instantly recognized that these were mind control devices that were linked directly to their cerebral cortex. It reminded her of something that the Cybermen might come up with. She shuddered as she knew that this would be their fate if they fell here today. This Master was taking no chances on anyone betraying him it seemed. She wondered if even the ones who came willingly wound up wearing these horrible things.

As the enslaved Masters and Ranis started forward on the attack, Marissa raced to the console and pressed a button that activated the Time Scoop that she had been using previously today. She quickly sent all of the intruders to the end of time with it.

Let them be the Toclafane's problem.

"Oh, very good, my dear. Unfortunately I am the Master of my universe now, and I can easily retrieve them even from the end of your own. I will soon be sending them back in a matter of moments so you've really accomplished nothing by sending them away," the holographic Master said.

"He must be the me from a universe where I'm still in charge of the Earth," Koschei whispered.

"I know. That means that he has near unlimited resources then. We can't let him come to this universe too," Marissa said.

"I heard that and you won't be able to stop me. I will return my lieutenants there at any moment now. Sooner or later you will obey me," the holographic Master said.

"I don't think so. My TARDIS has used your transmissions to pinpoint your exact universe of origin, and now that I know where you're from I can block you from sending anyone or anything else through from now on," Marissa said as she quickly turned a switch on her TARDIS' console.

"That's impossible. You can't do that. No one has ever kept me from coming to their universe before. No one!" the holographic Master protested in a furious voice as his transmissions began to break up.

You've obviously never come across an Ushas with all of the knowledge of the Dalek Net and the Matrix before, and I can use that knowledge combined with the Block Transfer Computations of Logopolis and the universal Archangel Network left behind by the late unlamented Discord to help me to do the impossible. I've figured out a way to prevent intrusions from another universe into this one if I'm given enough time to find out their point of origin. I now have a permanent shield against the energies of your reality currently forming around this universe. You're not sending anything else through anymore from this point onward. I'm also using my Time Scoop to send your troops back to you so they can't start any trouble either. This is the end of your little attempted insurrection here. Say goodbye, 'Master'. This universe is off limits to you from now on," Marissa said.

"No! This is impossible! You can't do this!" the holographic Master said before he faded away forever.

He hissed in anger as he realized that she had indeed blocked him from returning to her world at least for now anyway. Still there was one thing that she hadn't blocked that was also a part of his plan to take over her universe because it was from another universe than his entirely. It was the transmission of another set of Time Lords that he had redirected to her universe. Sooner or later that would still doom her reality whether she joined him or not. She would then regret accepting his offer on that day because that was the only way that she would have been able to survive the chaos that was soon to come.

He smiled at the thought of that and only regretted that he wouldn't be able to see it.

Meanwhile Marissa sent all of the other Ranis and Koscheis back home to their own respective times and universes with her Time Scoop once she had managed to figure out where they had all come from. She had made sure to remove the memories from their past selves as well just in case everything wasn't removed when the timestreams corrected themselves. As the last of her uninvited guests disappeared, Marissa sighed in relief at last.

Then she turned around to see Koschei looking at her with an odd expression on his face.

"What?" Marissa asked laughing.

He surprised her by giving her a passionate kiss right then and there.

"What was that for? Not that I'm complaining," Marissa said smiling.

"It's just that you're so amazing. You just singlehandedly sent him home with his tail between his legs and saved this entire reality. Yet you insist that you're not good enough for me?! You're just . . . incredible. You're my Mari. That's who you are. My wonderful smart irresistible Ushas," Koschei said as he kissed her again.

She looked at him in shock as she said, "What's gotten into you today? Why are you all Mr. Romantic all of a sudden?"

"Let's just say that I've finally realized that it's long past time that I showed you how I really feel about you. I won't make that mistake any longer," Koschei said as he kissed her hand.

"Okay, where is the real Koschei and what have you done with him?" Marissa said with a skeptical look on her face.

"You'll see, my sweet. I'm going to propose to you, and when I do I'll give you the largest most impressive ring you've ever seen. Then if you say yes . . ." Koschei said and then hesitated as he waited to see what her reaction would be to that idea.

"I'll just have to keep you guessing, won't I?" Marissa said mischievously.

Koschei frowned as he finished by saying, "If you say yes, I'll give us the biggest wedding that has ever been seen in the universe. I'll make the Doctor's wedding look like it was thrown by the Shobogans. I'll invite him just so I can rub his face in it at how much better my wedding is than either of his ever were. He will hang his head in shame!"

"Oh, there he is! There's my Koschei! Always competing with the Doctor, aren't you? Still, I'd rather you do this then start trying to kill him again," Marissa said as she gave him a tender kiss.

"Humiliating him is almost as good as trying to kill him. In fact, in some ways it will even be better. I can't wait to see the look on his face!" Koschei said with glee.

"What about me? Don't you care about whether I enjoy the whole thing or not?" Marissa asked.

"Of course I do. I love you, Ushas. I love you more than anything else. Still . . . it will be wonderful to see the Doctor be crushed by my magnificence," Koschei said with a smirk.

Marissa smiled and shook her head at him as she said, "Yes, it will. It really will. You'll finally show him at last, won't you?"

"That's another reason that I love you, Ushas. You really get me," Koschei said.

"I certainly do," Marissa said as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

Nearby and unseen in the corner of the Console Room, Marissa and Koschei's daughter from the future, Lissa, smiled at them and quickly left the room with her Vortex Manipulator. She had just come here for a few minutes to see this moment in person for herself and not to intrude on their privacy after all. She had just wanted to make sure that everything had happened as it should.

She had wanted to be here when her parents made their first real commitment to one another. She had also wanted to be here because she knew what they didn't know. She knew that this was going to prove to be a very important day for them. It certainly was for her anyway.

This was nine months to the day before she would be born.

**Next: Even as Marissa waits for Koschei to propose, she gets a very different kind of proposal from newly reinstated Prime Minister Harriet Jones. She wants to give her a job in her administration. What will it be and what will its connection be to UNIT, Torchwood, and Sarah Jane's group? **


	3. A New Direction

CHAPTER 3

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! **

A NEW DIRECTION

Marissa was all alone in the Console Room of her TARDIS while Koschei went off to no doubt tell the Doctor all about his grandiose plans for their wedding. He was sure that Koschei would do his very best to make the Doctor jealous. If she knew the Doctor though, he would be too busy being happy for both of them to show any kind of jealousy whatsoever. She would no doubt have to console an extremely disappointed and very angry Koschei when he returned without any satisfaction soon.

She could hardly wait. It would give her plenty of excuses to kiss him while she was trying to bolster his wounded ego. Not that she needed any excuses.

A large smile spread all over her face as she suddenly felt a familiar presence nearby. She instantly knew exactly who it was without even having to turn around.

"Thinking of Dad?" Lissa asked from behind her.

"Of course I am. Your father is the only person that I know who could make me this happy. Of course he's also the only person that I know who could make me so angry that I want to rip his fool head off sometimes as well. Funny how he has such a strong effect on me, huh?" Marissa asked as she turned around to greet her future daughter.

"I don't know much about love, but I get the feeling from watching you two in action all of my life that that's kind of how it works," Lissa said grinning.

Marissa quickly embraced her and showed her just how much that she appreciated her coming to visit her. She was always grateful to get a chance to see her not so little girl. Her mere existence always gave her hope that she could have a brighter future no matter how much she might doubt that sometimes. Maybe it wasn't so much doubt as guilt. After all why should she have a future when so many of her victims didn't because of her?

"That's because you're not that person anymore. You're a good woman now, Mum," Lissa said as she guessed her thoughts from her facial expression.

"That doesn't absolve me from the crimes that I've committed," Marissa said sadly.

"No, but you are sorry for them. You're also trying to be a better person because of them. I think that cuts you a little slack," Lissa said.

"I hope so. So why are you here today? Any particular reason?" Marissa asked as she deftly changed the subject.

"I'm just here to see how you're feeling. Are you alright?" Lissa asked as she struggled not to smile at her.

"What are you up to?" Marissa asked as she looked at her suspiciously.

"Nothing," Lissa said just a little too quickly.

"She won't tell you anything, Mum. She can't tell you the future so why do you even bother to ask?" Shehzadi, Marissa's other daughter, said as she suddenly entered the Console Room.

"Well, it doesn't hurt to try," Marissa said laughing.

"How are you doing, Pest?" Shehzadi asked as she gave Lissa an affectionate hug.

"I'm doing just fine, Psycho," Lissa said as she kissed her sister's cheek.

"Girls!" Marissa said shaking her head at them.

"What?" Both sisters asked as they looked at her in confusion.

"I've told you before to stop calling each other names," Marissa said scolding them.

"Oh, Mum. She knows that I don't mean anything by it. It's just my way of showing that I love her," Lissa said.

"That's exactly right. How is she going to know that I care if I don't insult her every now and then? Isn't that right, Freak Face?" Shehzadi asked with a warm smile on her face.

"It certainly is, Emo Girl," Lissa said as she smiled back at her.

"Fine, whatever. At least you don't hate each other's guts anymore," Marissa said as she held her hands up in surrender.

It was indeed a dramatic improvement over just a year or so ago when both sisters were at each other's throats, and Marissa was very concerned that Shehzadi would actually try to kill Lissa. As a matter of fact, she was concerned that Shehzadi might try to kill just about everyone that she came across. Thanks to Marissa and Lissa both working together to try to help her though they had both made her into a much more stable and loving person. Most of the time anyway. She still had a tendency to go off the rails sometimes when her family was threatened.

That didn't relieve her guilt over probably being the one who had made Shehzadi go mad in the first place by regenerating while she was still carrying her. She would always wonder if she had been the cause of her later mental instability by doing that.

"What's wrong with her? Of course we don't hate each other," Shehzadi asked Lissa.

"I have no idea what's she going on about. You haven't tried to kill me in ages," Lissa said.

"Of course not. I gave that up long ago. I'm better now. I'm not as sick as I was before. I promise, Mum. In fact, Lissa's helped make me better. She continued to reach out to me even when I was a raging psychotic. I'll always love her for that," Shehzadi said in an emotional voice.

Lissa smiled at her as she said, "You're still my sister even if you are a complete loon."

"I guess it takes one to know one," Shehzadi said.

"You've got that right," Lissa said.

"Maybe I am being punished after all," Marissa muttered to herself with a smile.

"Oh, stop that, Mum!" Lissa said as she gave her mother a hug.

"So has Laughing Boy proposed yet?" Shehzadi asked with a frown.

She made it no secret that she couldn't stand Koschei. She never had. The only reason that she tolerated him in the slightest was because she knew how happy that he made her mother. That and she wanted to make sure that Lissa who she really did love dearly now would be born.

"Not yet. Hopefully it'll be any day now. He says that he's waiting for the right time to ask me. Is that why you're here, Lissa? Do you know something that I don't?" Marissa asked even as she ignored the unhappy tone in Shehzadi's voice.

"You could say that," Lissa said still trying not to smile.

"Okay, spill it, Lis. What do you know?" Shehzadi said.

"You know I can't tell you that," Lissa said.

"Why do you have to be so annoying sometimes, Lis? Just tell us what we want to know, and you won't get hurt," Shehzadi said as she held up a fist to Lissa's face.

"Shehzadi!" Marissa said in anger.

"I'm just kidding. She knows that," Shehzadi said.

"Of course I do. Just like Shehzadi knows that I could kick her butt any day of the week," Lissa said.

"I'd like to see you try," Shehzadi said with a challenging tone in her voice.

That was when Marissa started to look sick, and both sisters noticed it at once. They both came to her aid as she almost fell over from dizziness.

"I was just kidding, Mum. I didn't mean to make you upset. You know I'd never hurt Lis," Shehzadi said in an upset voice.

"I know that. It wasn't that. I don't know what this is. I just got very sick all of a sudden for some reason," Marissa said with concern.

Lissa tried not to smile yet again. She knew exactly what this was.

"I saw that! Why are you smiling? Mum's sick," Shehzadi said in shock.

"She's not sick. This is perfectly normal for someone in her condition," Lissa said.

"What?" Marissa asked as she looked at her in complete surprise.

Then she finally realized what Lissa was trying to tell her, and her face broke out into a huge smile. This was one of the happiest moments in her life.

"You jerk! That's why you're here. You knew! She's pregnant and you knew!" Shehzadi said laughing at her.

"Yep. Guess who she's pregnant with?" Lissa said with a wide grin.

"My best friend," Shehzadi said as she hugged her sister tightly.

Marissa looked at Lissa in disbelief. She couldn't believe it. She was finally pregnant with Lissa. She wasn't just a possibility somewhere far off in a long distant future anymore. She was finally here at last. She was real.

It was Marissa's turn to hug Lissa now as she said, "I'm really going to have to get your father to make that proposal now."

"He'll do it soon. Trust me. I just wanted to be here to see your reaction when you found out," Lissa said.

"Why?" Marissa asked.

"I just wanted to see it. I just had to," Lissa said.

"If this is because you're worried that I didn't want you it's not true, baby. I always wanted you," Marissa reassured her.

"No, it's not that. I just . . . I just wanted to see how it made you feel when you found out. I definitely wasn't disappointed," Lissa said in an emotional voice.

Mother and daughter held each other for a moment as Shehzadi looked at them with a smile. Once she would have been extremely jealous of the scene currently being played out before her. Now though she was so happy for both of them. If only Lissa's father wasn't . . . him.

What her mother saw in him she'd never know. She would tolerate him for her mother and sister's sake, but she couldn't say that she'd ever like him. He always made her skin crawl just being around him.

She was definitely glad that Lissa took after their mother instead of Jackal Man.

This happy moment was soon brought to an end though as a call suddenly came through on the monitor.

"Miss Queen, I'm very sorry to bother you, but I have a serious question that I must ask you. I'm Harriet Jones, Prime Minister," Harriet said as she flashed her ID in front of the screen.

"Yes, I know who you are, Ma'am. What is it that you need?" Marissa asked as she began to wonder what she could possibly be calling her about.

"Miss Queen, I'd rather you come to my office so that we can talk about this in person. Can you be here soon?" Harriet asked.

"I can be there in five seconds," Marissa said with a grin.

"Oh, so you're coming by TARDIS then?" Harriet asked.

"How else? It's the only way to travel," Marissa said grinning.

"You'll have to land outside I'm afraid. My office has been TARDIS proofed," Harriet said with an apologetic look on her face.

"Not exactly very trusting are you?" Marissa asked.

"That wasn't me. It was my predecessor. He decided to do that after all of the trouble that we had with . . . well . . ." Harriet said in a hesitant voice.

Marissa could see that she was trying not to offend her by mentioning Koschei and what he did as Harold Saxon. Someone else didn't have any problems saying it whatsoever though.

"It was TARDIS proofed after what Harry and I did is what you're struggling to say, isn't it, Harriet?" Lucy Saxon said somewhere from off camera.

Marissa could see Harriet turning to glare at her, and she could hear Lucy say, "Oh, come on, Harriet. If she's going to get offended at hearing the truth, then we don't want her, do we?"

Marissa sighed. She really hadn't wanted to run into Lucy Saxon again. This made her glad that Koschei wasn't with her at the moment. Lucy seemed to bring out the inner Harold Saxon in him when he was around her for too long not to mention that she wasn't too fond of him anyway after his having killed the Valeyard right in front of her recently and enjoying it after she had almost started to trust him again. Lucy and Koschei definitely still had plenty of issues to sort out.

Marissa was secretly glad about that because she was extremely jealous of her and how close that Koschei had been getting to her again before he had killed the Valeyard especially after he found out that the two of them had a son together. She definitely didn't want that to start up again. She didn't mind Koschei seeing his son John, but she definitely wanted him to stay far, far away from that woman at all costs.

She immediately wondered if she should reconsider going to meet Harriet if she was going to be there.

"I faced up to the truth about myself and Koschei a long time ago, Harriet. You don't have to worry about offending me with anything that you say. I know what I am now, and I can assure you that I'm not proud of it. Maybe you could ask me whatever you want to here. I'm not sure if I want to leave the TARDIS outside unattended for so long,' Marissa said as she made up a phony excuse so that she wouldn't have to be around Lucy.

"I don't have to be here if it's going to be a problem for you, Mari," Lucy said cutting to the chase as she stepped in front of the camera.

"It's nothing against you personally. I just . . ." Marissa started to say.

"You're afraid that I'm going to take him away from you, aren't you? I don't know why. I am not, I repeat, not interested in him, Mari. I honestly don't know why you are, but that's your own business," Lucy said.

"I like her," Shehzadi said laughing.

Marissa and Lissa both glared at her as she said, "I'm sorry. I can't help how I feel. As far as I'm concerned, the only good thing he ever did was you, Lis."

"You just need to give him more of a chance," Lissa said.

Lucy looked at Lissa in surprise as she said, "You're his daughter? I didn't know that he had one."

"He doesn't. Not yet anyway. I'm from the future. I just like to visit his past. A lot," Lissa said grinning.

"Time Lords," Lucy said as she looked at her in complete disbelief while Harriet said, "The government is quite aware of Vasilisa's existence and exactly who she is."

"So you have secret information in your files on my daughter? I'm not sure if I like that or not," Marissa said disturbed.

"That's part of what I want to talk to you about. You could make sure of what does and doesn't become available on certain individual aliens to the various governments of Earth in the future if you take on the job that I want to offer you. I'd rather talk to you about that in person though," Harriet said.

"Alright, I'm coming. I'll be right outside in a matter of seconds," Marissa said as she headed straight for 10 Downing Street.

Her TARDIS materialized a few blocks away in the form of a large cabinet. Then she grinned as she decided to see if she could pull one over on Harriet and changed the TARDIS' form to something new.

Her TARDIS now looked like her.

As she walked toward 10 Downing Street inside of the now mobile TARDIS, Marissa was quickly surrounded by several armed guards. She held up her hands as she said through the TARDIS' speakers, "There's no need for violence, boys. I was invited here by the Prime Minister."

"We are aware of that, Ma'am. We just need to make sure that you aren't carrying a weapon before we can allow you inside," one of the guards said.

"Well, that's a fine way to treat me. She asks me here for a nice private chat and then acts like she doesn't trust me. I guess I really can't blame her though. I did used to be one of the most wanted renegades in the universe after all," Marissa said grinning.

The guards looked at each other nervously as Marissa quickly added, "Don't worry. I'm much better these days. I won't hurt you. I promise."

"That's very funny, Ma'am," the guard said as he quickly searched her and then said, "No weapons found. She's cleared to go."

"I was being serious. I could be extremely dangerous if I wanted to be. I don't anymore though which is good for you," Marissa said.

"You're unarmed," the guard said as if that made her completely harmless in his eyes.

"I may appear to be but I'm really not you know. My greatest weapon is the one that you can't see. My mind. Never underestimate someone just based on how innocent that they appear to be. That can often be a mistake. Trust me," Marissa said.

The guard looked at her closely and could see that she was being completely serious so he nodded and said, "I'll keep that in mind. Come along, Miss Queen. I'll escort you to the Prime Minister."

"So you do know a little something about me then. Probably not enough though. Sorry for grilling you, but I just want Harriet's protectors to be ready for anything. Threats can come in all shapes and forms in this universe," Marissa said.

"We are quite aware of what we might have to face," the guard said.

"Are you? We'll see," Marissa said amused.

He walked her inside of Harriet's office and as soon as he did, he closed the door behind him and stood guard in front of it. Harriet sat at her desk where she was flanked by Lucy Saxon and a guard on one side and yet another guard on the other. Harriet greeted her as she immediately stood up and held out her hand for her to shake as she said, "Welcome, Miss Queen. I'm very glad to finally meet you at last."

"It's Marissa and you're not really meeting me. Well, you are but not in person. Not quite yet," Marissa said with a chuckle.

"What?" Harriet asked in confusion.

Suddenly the TARDIS shimmered and returned to the shape of an old wooden cabinet which Marissa, Lissa, and Shehzadi immediately emerged from. The guard who had brought Marissa inside looked at her in complete shock.

"Do you see what I mean now? You just walked me right inside this so called TARDIS proof office. If I had been here to harm her, you couldn't have stopped me especially if I had weapons hidden inside of here. I easily could have brought an army with me to kill her if I had wanted to do so," Marissa said.

The guard nodded as he looked completely rattled by the whole experience. Marissa had just showed him exactly how much he had left to learn about things in the wider universe that Earth was becoming more and more a part of each day.

Harriet looked at her with an impressed look on her face as she said, "You're just as good as the Doctor and Rose said that you would be. I didn't know that TARDISes could do that. That looked absolutely real."

"It's meant to. You're not used to dealing with more sophisticated TARDISes. You're too used to dealing with that antiquated Type 40 of the Doctor's instead. It was old when he was a kid," Marissa confided.

Marissa finally shook Harriet's hand as she said, "I've brought my daughters, Lissa and Shehzadi, with me if that's alright. I assure you that they're harmless. Well, they're harmless to you anyway."

"That's quite alright, Miss Queen. It's very nice to meet both of you," Harriet said.

Lissa looked around in fascination as she said, "So this is what this place looks like. It looks just like my Dad described it to me. I could get to like it here. Maybe I'll run for Prime Minister someday. It's an old family tradition after all. I could be Lissa Saxon. Or maybe not. I probably wouldn't get too many votes with that name, huh? Can I try out your chair, Ma'am? I might be sitting in it someday after all so I must well get used to it."

Harriet looked at her questioningly as she wondered if she was being serious or not.

"Don't pay any attention to her. She's a bit out there," Shehzadi said.

"That's rich coming from you, Miss Psycho," Lissa said.

"Oh, shut up, Pest!" Shehzadi said grinning at her.

"I'm not as much of a pest as you are. That's for sure," Lissa said.

Marissa cleared her throat very loudly, and both girls quickly shut up and pretended to look innocent.

Harriet looked at them in amusement as she said, "Are they normally like this?"

"No, they're usually not this well behaved. Don't be fooled though. They're very close," Marissa said as she smiled at her girls fondly.

"I can tell," Harriet said smiling at them.

She knew that they were just playing around by the looks on each of their faces as their 'argued' especially Shehzadi's. She could tell that Shehzadi absolutely adored Lissa while Lissa looked at Shehzadi with admiration. She had already figured out from that alone that Shehzadi was the older sister.

"If you'll all sit down, I'll get to what I called you here for, Miss Queen," Harriet said as she gestured to the chairs in front of her desk.

"I don't get to sit in the Prime Minister's chair then?" Lissa asked in disappointment.

"Lissa, behave!" Marissa said with a sigh.

Lissa giggled as she said, "Alright, if I have to."

"Sit down, Brat," Shehzadi said as she sat down.

"Don't tell me what to do, Jerk," Lissa said sitting down beside her.

Marissa cleared her throat again and both sisters quickly shut up once more as she said, "Maybe I should buy a muzzle for both of them. What do you think?"

"I think that they're both very sweet. Now about what I asked you here for . . . ," Harriet started to say.

"Before we start, I want you to call me Marissa or Mari if you don't mind. Being called Miss Queen just irritates me," Marissa said interrupting her.

"That's fine. You can call me Harriet," Harriet said.

"So this is about a job then. The Doctor and Rose both recommended me for a job? Why?" Marissa asked confused.

"It's because of the nature of the job. This position gives whoever has it a huge level of power and responsibility so I have to have only the most trustworthy person for it. The Doctor and Rose both said that they trusted you completely and told me to hire you. I brought you here to judge that for myself. I certainly like what I see so far," Harriet said.

"I still haven't heard exactly what the job is yet though," Marissa said.

"It's a new position that I've just created called the Minister of Alien Affairs. Whoever fills this job would have absolute control over anything having to do with aliens in this country,' Harriet said.

"What do you mean absolute?" Marissa asked not liking the sound of this conversation already.

"I mean that when it comes to aliens they would have the final decision on everything to do with them. They would monitor anything to do with aliens going on in the country and make sure that neither the aliens nor anyone dealing with them is doing anything that they shouldn't. They would only answer to me and no one else," Harriet said.

"No wonder you want someone trustworthy. That sounds like a very bad idea to me to give anyone that much power over any group of people," Marissa said.

"Not if it was the right person, someone who would make sure that all aliens were treated fairly and justly. Like another alien," Harriet said.

"That's why you're offering the job to me. What kind of responsibilities would this person have? I mean what all would they be able to do?" Marissa asked as she began to look very uncomfortable.

"They would monitor all alien transmissions to and from the planet for any possible hidden threats in them to us, be responsible for deciding what happens to any alien technology that is found within our borders and even be able to deny that technology to humanity no matter who wants it if it would be detrimental to us to possess it at this stage in our society's development, deal with any illegal alien presences in the country in an appropriate manner by either fighting off an invasion or offering any friendly aliens asylum here as long as they agree not to attack us, keep a watchful eye on any organizations or groups that have regular contact with aliens like Torchwood, Sarah Jane's group, or UNIT and make sure that they're not doing anything to them that they shouldn't, and they could even establish diplomatic relations with other worlds. This person would also lead a hand-picked group of professionals chosen from among the various groups that deal with aliens in order to combat alien invaders of all types. They would be our first line of defense whenever the Doctor, Rose, or others that we're used to depending on aren't available. It's something that I've thought of doing for a long time now ever since my first term. You wouldn't be doing all of this alone of course. Both I and Lucy would be working hand in hand with you all of the way, and you could appoint anyone else that you wanted to work under you as well. So what do you say?" Harriet asked.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if I'm the person that you want really. I'm not . . . I'm not a good person, Harriet," Marissa said.

"Yes, you are, Mum! Why are you saying that for? You've saved the world and even the universe so many times now. You've more than made up for anything that you've ever done in my opinion," Lissa said.

"She's right. You're the best person that I know. You've helped me so much even when you should have just put me away somewhere. If it wasn't for you, I would be sitting somewhere locked up right now, and I never would have known what a great person that my sister is or how good a person that I could be. You believed in me and you've helped me to be almost normal now. You could help so many others too if you'd just try," Shehzadi pleaded.

"Those sound like excellent references to me," Harriet said.

"They have to say that. They love me," Marissa said.

"I don't think that's all it is personally," Harriet said.

One of the guards next to Harriet suddenly spoke up as he said, "If you don't mind my saying so, Ma'am, I think that she's just being overly modest or maybe feeling just a little too guilty for things that are far, far in the past. She seems like a very worthy candidate for the job to me. If she can keep that fiendish but devilishly handsome rogue the Master in line and whip him into shape like she has then she can certainly do the same for this country. She's just what we need if you ask me."

Harriet looked at him in surprise since she was unused to her guards speaking to her at all much less giving her their opinions. "You really think so?" Harriet asked.

"Oh, yes. Some might say that this country is sick and that what it needs is a doctor but I respectfully disagree. I don't like doctors. In fact, I loathe them. No, I think that what we need is this lovely woman here," the guard said grinning.

Harriet, Lucy, and Shehzadi all looked at him suspiciously now while Lissa smiled. Marissa said, "So you think that I should take the job then."

"Of course. Who better than you? You really are the best candidate for this job. Just based on what I've heard here today of course since I've never met you before today," the guard said.

Marissa smiled at him in amusement as she said, "So did the Doctor get jealous when you told him your plans for the wedding?"

"No, he wasn't jealous at all. All he could do was talk about how cool it was. I swear that he gets stupider and more annoying the older that he gets. Oops!" The 'guard' said.

"Oops, indeed! Are you spying on me now, Koschei?" Marissa asked.

"No, of course not. I just happened to overhear a conversation in the Doctor's TARDIS where the Doctor and Rose were talking about this job. I thought that I'd come here in person to find out more about it. I really do think that you should take it, Ushas," Koschei said as he removed a mask to reveal a gleeful smirk.

"You just happened to overhear it, huh? You put a bug in his TARDIS, didn't you? Again!" Marissa said with a sigh.

"There may have been one there that I forgot to remove. You can't blame me for that," Koschei said.

"Excuse me, but you just disguised yourself as a guard and walked right in here?" Harriet asked with her mouth hanging wide open in disbelief.

"That's right. I wouldn't take it to mean that you're not being well protected though. The security here is very good. It's very effective . . . against humans. Your security could never keep out a genius as great as mine however. I'll gladly tell you how I did it later. Oh, and don't worry about the guard. He just didn't report into work today after suddenly winning the lottery. I hate to use one of the Doctor's old tricks, but it works so I thought why not?" Koschei said grinning.

"I can't believe you! You're just as bad as ever!" Lucy said in disgust.

"Thank you very much!" Koschei said as his smile grew even bigger.

"You would take that as a compliment, wouldn't you?" Lucy said sighing.

"Maybe I should give you the job just so that you can keep track of him," Harriet said still not believing that he had managed to sneak inside like he had.

"I'm so sorry, Ma'am. It'll never happen again," the guard at the door said looking completely embarrassed.

"I wouldn't blame him too much. Like I said, his security would keep out any normal opponent. I'm not normal though," Koschei said.

"You've got that right. I really don't know why you want to marry him for," Lucy said to Marissa.

"Well, I haven't actually said yes yet," Marissa said teasing Koschei.

"Don't. Trust me on that," Lucy said.

"Hey! Don't tell her that! I'm not like I used to be!" Koschei protested.

"You could have fooled me," Lucy said.

"I take it back, Ushas. Maybe you don't want this job after all with her here," Koschei said.

"I'll take it," Marissa said.

Everyone looked at her in surprise as Harriet asked, "What finally decided you?"

"Well, never mind any possible alien attacks. I'll need all of the resources that you have just to keep tabs on him if I'm going to marry him. I can use all of the extra sets of eyes that I can get. I need to sleep sometime you know?" Marissa said laughing.

She was also taking the job for another reason that she wasn't stating out loud. No matter how unworthy she felt of it she didn't trust that much power with anyone else. She would rather that she do her best to do the job as wisely and honestly as she could than let someone else have it who might make life for all aliens in the country including her family and friends a living nightmare.

"How very amusing," Koschei said in irritation.

"I like you. Maybe you should marry him. You seem to know how to put him in his place," Lucy said.

"I should. I've been doing it most of my life now. No one else would ever put up with him anyway. So I guess I'll just marry the big goof if he'll ever get around to asking me that is," Marissa said.

"Well, what are you waiting on, Dad?" Lissa asked.

"I'm trying to find the right time," Koschei said.

"Well, you'd better find it quickly because I'm pregnant," Marissa said.

Koschei looked surprised for once as he said, "What?"

"Congratulations! Do you know what it's going to be yet?" Harriet asked.

"Yes, and so do you," Marissa said.

"You mean?" Koschei asked as his eyes quickly darted to Lissa.

"Yes, I do," Marissa confirmed.

"I don't understand. What is the baby going to be?" Harriet asked.

"Me. I'm the baby. Hello!" Lissa said waving at her.

"Time Lords," Lucy said again in exasperation as Harriet looked at them all in disbelief for the millionth time that day.

Working with Marissa and her family was certainly never going to be boring Harriet thought to herself. As it turned out, she didn't know the half of it.

Marissa had only just started the job, and she already had an alien invasion happening nearby. This invasion was happening right in her own backyard as a matter of fact just down the hall from the Prime Minister's office as several statues suddenly appeared out of nowhere that weren't there before.

The Weeping Angels had arrived at 10 Downing Street. Before the day was over with, they planned to fulfill their wildest dreams and become the stuff of the Time Lords' nightmares!

**Next: It's Marissa and Koschei vs. the Weeping Angels right in the middle of Downing Street. Can they keep them from getting the one thing that they must never ever have no matter what? Can they keep them from gaining the power of the Time Lords?!**


	4. Attack of the Angels

CHAPTER 4

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! **

ATTACK OF THE ANGELS

"Congratulations on the pregnancy, Mari. I suppose I should congratulate you too, Lissa," Harriet said.

"Oh, you don't have to do that just for starting to exist. Thank you anyway though. I'm glad that I'm finally official. I could still be erased from existence of course, but it's getting less and less likely now,' Lissa said grinning.

Harriet couldn't help but laugh at how ludicrous this conversation would have seemed to her once. That was before she had met the Doctor and Rose Tyler though.

"Don't even talk about that. You're not going anywhere if I can help it," Shehzadi said in an upset voice.

"Hey, I'm alright, Psycho. Don't worry," Lissa said in a sympathetic voice.

Marissa couldn't help but smile at how strange that statement of Lissa's was. Her voice was clearly showing love and concern for her sister, and yet she was still insulting her at the same time. Then again she supposed it wasn't really an insult at all in Lissa and Shehzadi's eyes but just another term of endearment. She loved her children, but even she had to admit sometimes that they were just a bit strange.

Not that she was the poster child for normal herself. The less said about Koschei in relation to normal the better.

"Love you, Pest," Shehzadi said as she embraced her sister.

"Love you too, Jerk," Lissa said as she stroked Shehzadi's hair in an attempt to calm her down.

"She gets a bit emotional sometimes. She's basically okay though," Marissa whispered to Harriet.

Harriet nodded and said nothing. She knew all about Shehzadi's psychological problems from the government's records on her. She also knew that Shehzadi was much better these days or she never would have allowed her anywhere near her or this office.

Koschei looked at Shehzadi with worry despite how loving she was being at the moment. He remembered how dangerous that she was not too long ago and was still wary of having her around Marissa and Lissa.

He knew that it was very hypocritical of him of all people to feel that way, but he couldn't help it. He still worried about her snapping and attacking someone even though it hadn't happened in a while. To Koschei she was too much like her Aunt Kali for him to ever trust her fully.

He knew that the feeling was more than mutual too as Shehzadi still didn't trust him either. They both kept their feelings mostly to themselves though for Marissa and Lissa's benefit because neither of them wanted to upset them needlessly. It was an unspoken agreement between them that Koschei appreciated.

As soon as Shehzadi had calmed down, Marissa said, "Well, I guess we should be going. I need to start thinking about who I should hire and things like that. Where is my office going to be by the way?"

"Mum, I'm sorry. You don't have to go because of me," Shehzadi looking embarrassed.

"No, it's not because of you. I just think that I should get started picking people to work with me. I have to go ask people that I already have in mind if they want a job with me or not. Don't worry so much, okay?" Marissa said to Shehzadi.

Shehzadi nodded as she said, "I'm still sorry. I'm trying to get better. I really am."

"You are better. Don't worry," Marissa said in a gentle voice.

Harriet smiled at Shehzadi reassuringly as she said to Marissa, "Your office is down the hall. Of course you could choose to do all of your business from your TARDIS too if you want."

"I probably will use the TARDIS more. I suppose I could just take a look at the office though," Marissa said.

"I call dibs on the chair. I'm sitting in it first," Lissa said.

"Fine. You can sit in the chair," Marissa said smiling at her.

"Hello, I'm Lissa Saxon, Deputy Minister of Alien Affairs. It's very nice to meet you," Lissa said with a chuckle.

Marissa rolled her eyes as Koschei asked, "Saxon?"

"You don't actually give me that name, but I like it so I sometimes use it," Lissa said.

"I really wish you wouldn't," Lucy said.

"Lissa's not like me. She's a very kind, sweet person," Koschei said.

Lucy smiled at his defense of her even as she said, "I'm not saying that she's not. I just don't like that name. I'd rather that no one ever used it again. It brings back bad memories."

"I was kind of hoping that if I used it in a good way that I could remove those memories from it somewhat and try to redeem it in some way," Lissa explained.

Lucy looked at her touched as she realized that Lissa was trying to help redeem her father as well by doing that. She couldn't deny her that despite how she felt about him personally.

"Well, in that case why don't you keep it then?" Lucy said.

"Thank you," Lissa said smiling even as Koschei silently mouthed the same thing to her.

They all started down the hall then as Harriet led the way to Marissa's new office. Along the way though Harriet suddenly said, "Where did those statues come from?"

"What statues?" Marissa asked.

"Those. The angels. They weren't there this morning, and I certainly never authorized any new statues to be put in here," Harriet said puzzled as she pointed at three statues of angels with their eyes covered at the end of the hall.

"Oh, no!" Marissa said as she suddenly realized what they were.

"What? What is it?" Harriet asked.

"Weeping Angels," Koschei said as he quickly pulled his laser screwdriver out of his pocket.

"Weeping Angels managed to make it inside here?" Harriet asked in horror as she remembered reading about them and how dangerous they were now from her files.

"Apparently so. Don't stop looking at them. Don't even blink," Marissa said as she looked behind them.

She gasped as she saw three more Angels directly behind her. They had almost got to within touching distance of them.

"Koschei, behind us," Marissa said.

Koschei whirled and growled in anger as he saw just how close the Angels were to them. They had almost caught them.

"They're behind us too?" Harriet asked not taking her eyes off the Angels in front of her.

"Unfortunately, yes. Someone needs to keep staring at these Angels too. I have to go check something," Marissa said as she started to slowly and carefully move past the Angels behind her.

"What? Where are you going?" Koschei asked alarmed.

"The TARDIS. I can't let them have it. You know why," Marissa said.

Marissa had many secrets that had been discovered during her research or travels hidden away inside of her TARDIS that she didn't want anyone to have, but the most important and devastating one of these was the potion that Rose had entrusted to her that could turn anyone into a full Time Lord complete with the power to regenerate. The Angels must never have that no matter what.

"You're not going by yourself. I'm going with you," Koschei insisted.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Marissa said smiling.

As the two of them started to leave, Marissa called out, "Harriet, you stare at the ones in front of you. Lucy, you stare at the ones behind you. Shehzadi, Lissa, both of you stay with them to protect them. Your dad and I just need to go check on the TARDIS back in Harriet's office. We'll be back as soon as we can."

"He's not my dad," Shehzadi whispered.

"Now's not the time," Lissa whispered back to her.

"Sorry. So do we really stay here?" Shehzadi asked.

"Of course not. They're going to need us. You just know that they're after what Mum has in the TARDIS. They have to be and that means that they'll need our help," Lissa said.

"Go help them if you want. Lucy and I can handle this, can't we, Lucy?" Harriet said as she could guess what they were whispering about.

"Of course we can. Don't worry about us. Go help your mother," Lucy said as she conveniently left Koschei out Shehzadi noticed to her amusement.

"Thanks," Both sisters said at once as they smiled at them with gratitude.

Then they both ran after Marissa and Koschei.

"So are you as terrified as I am?" Lucy asked as she knew all about the Angels and what they could do from conversations that she had had with Koschei and Rose.

"Probably more but I have a feeling that Marissa and Koschei will need their help soon," Harriet said.

"So how long can you keep staring without blinking?" Lucy asked.

"Hopefully long enough for them to get back. How about you?" Harriet asked.

"Don't worry about me. I've stared down the Master at his worst. This will be child's play compared to that," Lucy said.

As the two women continued to bravely stand their ground against the Angels that surrounded them, Lissa and Shehzadi found Marissa and Koschei staring at a small army of Angels that were all surrounding the TARDIS and trying to get into it. Some of the Angels were banging on the doors, and others looked like they were trying to shake it.

"You're going to have to keep staring at them while I go inside and dematerialize it," Marissa said to Koschei.

"There's no need for that. We can stare at them for you. Both of you can go ahead and go inside together," Lissa said.

Without turning around, Marissa said, "I told you to stay with Harriet and Lucy. How are you sure that there are no Angels behind you right now about to kill you?"

"Uh, because we're not stupid, Mum. Shehzadi is watching behind me, aren't you, Psycho?" Lissa said.

"Yes, I am. Don't worry, Mum. I'm keeping one eye out for her and the other one out for the Angels," Shehzadi said.

"Won't that make you cross-eyed?" Lissa joked.

"Shut up!" Shehzadi said.

"You make me," Lissa said.

"Girls, not now!" Marissa said in irritation.

"What?" Both sisters said at once in confusion.

Marissa couldn't help but laugh. She wondered if she'd ever get used to their relationship.

"Never mind. Just keep watching for Angels and each other. Let's go in, Koschei," Marissa said.

"Why is it that you're the one giving me orders?" Koschei said smiling.

"I always give you orders. I always have. Do you have a problem with that?" Marissa asked as she displayed a bit of the Rani's attitude for a moment.

"I just wondered when I could start giving out orders," Koschei said still grinning.

"When I'm dead," Marissa said.

"I hope I never give orders then," Koschei said as he kissed her.

"Me too. You'd be lousy at it," Marissa said as she kissed him back.

"Are you two going in anytime soon?" Shehzadi said in disgust.

"Alright, I get the hint. Let's go," Marissa said.

As she went to open the TARDIS, she immediately knew that something was wrong. The alarm system that she always had on had been switched off.

Marissa cursed in Gallifreyan as she easily pushed upon the doors without a key. She noticed for the first time that the Angels surrounding the TARDIS were all smiling at her now.

"They broke in. How could they break into a TARDIS?" Marissa wondered in complete shock.

"You know how," Koschei said.

"That's only a legend. Parents used to scare their Time Tots with it, but that's all it ever was," Marissa said.

"Are you sure? This looks like proof of the legend being true to me," Koschei said.

Marissa could only shrug her shoulders in response as she couldn't think of an answer to that. At least she couldn't come up with an answer that she was comfortable with anyway.

She could see that the TARDIS had been plunged into darkness now as she opened the doors all the way. She and Koschei looked at each other in wordless communication as they both silently agreed to watch out for each other and to be careful. Then they plunged into the darkness with only Koschei's laser screwdriver to guide their way.

They immediately saw that the Console Room was empty which made Marissa even more nervous. She automatically started heading for the hidden area of her TARDIS where the potion was being kept with Koschei barely able to keep up with her. She didn't really need his screwdriver's light to find her way anyway. She literally could find her way around her TARDIS even in the dark.

She finally came to the hidden entrance to her secret lab and noticed with a sigh of relief that it hadn't been opened yet. The potion was still safe.

Or was it?

"Thank you so much. The exact location of your secret lab was exactly what I needed to know," A voice said behind them.

They suddenly found themselves under attack by what seemed like several people at once. The only problem was that neither Time Lord could see anything!

"Where are you?" Marissa cried out.

"We're invisible. We finally found a way to keep from being seen at last by using the power of the Vortex to turn ourselves invisible. Now no one can stop us by watching us! Kill them!" the same voice from before said.

Marissa had heard of these new types of Angels who could control the Vortex from Jenny before, but this was the first time that she had ever encountered them herself. She knew that they had been altered so that they could use the power of the Vortex for a short time before it killed them, and that they could assume human form and talk even while in Angel form. She had never heard of them becoming invisible before though. That was new. Now they would be almost impossible to beat.

She suddenly felt herself under attack by who knew how many Angels as they mercilessly hit her over and over again. She could tell that Koschei was under attack as well as he suddenly screamed out in pain and dropped his screwdriver.

Now they were in total darkness.

"Even better," Marissa managed to say in-between blows.

Then she heard a sound that gave her hope as she heard several agonized screams after her booby trap went off when the Angels tried to open the secret entrance to her lab. The instant that anyone that didn't have her specific genes tried to open the door it had released a spray of a mutant strain of Petrifold Regression. That was the disease that eventually turned its victims to immovable stone. Her new strain did it almost instantly though, and apparently it affected Weeping Angels even quicker since they were already basically stone.

Koschei must have picked his screwdriver back up again because now she could see several very visible Angels that were frozen solid.

She smiled grimly as she said, "Having a little trouble?"

"They may be but I'm not," the same voice that had spoken to them before said.

Suddenly the lights of the TARDIS came back on just in time for her to see one lone Angel's fist heading straight for her face.

As Marissa hit the ground knocked out cold, Koschei attacked the Angel with the yellow beam of his laser screwdriver. The Angel laughed as she harmlessly deflected the beam away from her with her outstretched hand.

"You'll have to do better than that to stop me. I have the power of the Vortex, little man. What do you have?" the Angel said in disdain.

"Why don't you look into my eyes and find out what I'm made out of?" Koschei asked.

Then he looked the Angel straight in the eyes knowing full well the danger of doing so, but he was willing to risk it to protect Marissa. The two of them had a silent contest of wills for a brief moment.

Then Koschei said, "I am the Master and you will obey me. Say it."

"I . . . obey," the Angel said in a lifeless voice.

Koschei laughed as he said, "Excellent. Now tell me how many more Angels are inside."

"Just me. The others are all turned to stone now," the hypnotized Angel said.

"Good. Now listen carefully. I want you to go back outside the TARDIS and turn invisible. Then destroy every Weeping Angel that you find. You will not attack anyone else. Only the Angels. Then once you have finished killing the Angels you will use your Vortex powers to destroy yourself. Do you understand?" Koschei said.

"I . . . understand," the Angel said.

"Then go. Do it," Koschei ordered.

The Angel immediately turned invisible and started to run for the front doors of the TARDIS. Koschei now laughed in triumph as he checked Marissa for any injuries. He smiled as he saw that she was just unconscious but otherwise unharmed.

"That's Time Lords, 1 and Angels, 0," Koschei said as he laughed again.

Then he was suddenly knocked unconscious as the War Lord appeared out of nowhere. She laughed at him as she said, "You should have been more specific with what you asked your new servant, Koschei. You only asked her how many Angels were on board when you should have said how many beings. Oh, well!"

Then she proceeded to destroy the hidden door and quickly entered the lab within. She grabbed a vial of the potion for herself and then was about to destroy the rest of it when Shehzadi suddenly attacked her from behind.

Shehzadi had gotten into the TARDIS just as soon as Koschei's Angel destroyed the ones in the room with her and her sister. It hadn't taken her long to find the War Lord after that as she knew exactly what the Angels must have been looking for.

Nearby Harriet and Lucy sighed in relief as all of the Angels surrounding them turned to dust, and then they looked on in complete confusion as another Angel suddenly appeared out of nowhere only to blow up a minute later.

Somehow Lucy knew that Harry must have been behind it all.

Meanwhile back in the TARDIS, Shehzadi was still facing off against the War Lord all by herself.

"You're not going anywhere with that. I'll rip you apart first," Shehzadi said as she picked the War Lord up off of the ground and began to try to break her in half with her incredible strength.

The War Lord cried out in pain even as she said, "I think I'll be ripping you apart first."

Then it was Shehzadi's turn to scream as the War Lord started to disintegrate her. Luckily for her, Lissa chose that moment to attack the War Lord with the Tissue Compression Eliminator.

It was the War Lord's turn to scream as the TCE started compressing her down to doll size almost instantly. Using her Vortex powers though she was able to survive what should have been a fatal attack and instantly teleported away still holding the vial of potion that she had stolen.

"Oh, that's just great!" Lissa said in frustration as she knew that she had failed.

She immediately forgot about that though as she knelt over her unmoving sister.

"Are you alright? Please say you're okay," Lissa said as she checked her for vital signs.

"I'm . . . fine, you . . . little . . . brat. I'm . . . just . . . a . . . little . . . sick," Shehzadi said in a weak voice.

"You crazy idiot! That was the War Lord. She could have killed you without a second thought. Don't you ever do something that stupid again or I'll use the TCE on you! You jerk!" Lissa said in an extremely upset voice.

"Pest," Shehzadi said in a weak voice but with a huge smile on her face.

"Is she okay?" Koschei said as he finally woke up.

He didn't like Shehzadi but he didn't want anything to happen to her. That wasn't just because of what it would do to Marissa either.

Who knew after all of these years that he could still have a conscience?

"Yeah, I think so. I stopped the War Lord just in time before she could disintegrate her," Lissa said.

Koschei checked Shehzadi over quickly and said, "Yes, she'll be fine. Don't worry, Lissa. She's just a little sick because of having her atoms messed around with but that's all."

"I . . . kept . . . the potions safe," Shehzadi said.

"Yes, you did. She would have destroyed them if it hadn't been for you, and we would have lost the ability to make anymore. Good job," Koschei said.

"She still got away with one of them though. Somehow she survived the TCE. I failed," Lissa said.

"It's okay," Koschei said.

"No, it's not okay. I blew it. Now the War Lords and the Angels and who knows who else are going to have the power of the Time Lords because of me," Lissa said.

That was when Marissa finally woke up and said, "It wasn't your fault. You did the best you could under the circumstances. Much better than I would have done I'm sure. At least you saved your sister and made the War Lord run. That's better than most people have fared against her. She has the power of the Vortex, and you sent her running. Not many people can say that."

"I guess I am pretty awesome, huh?" Lissa said grinning.

"Yes, you are," Marissa said as she kissed her cheek and hugged her.

"Hey, what about me? I'm the one who almost died. Don't I get any love?" Shehzadi complained.

"Of course you do. I'll kill you for risking your life like that later. For now though . . ." Marissa said as she hugged her daughter in gratitude.

Koschei smiled and was silently grateful himself that they had all gotten out of this more or less intact. Yes, they had lost the potion, but he was sure that Rose or Jenny would still find a way to stop the War Lord and her allies eventually even with the power that the potion would give them. At least he hoped so. He shuddered to think how powerful an army of half Time Lord half Angel Vortex users would be. The small part of him that was still the Master wished that he had thought of the idea first. An army like that could be virtually unstoppable.

If the legends about the Angels were true, then maybe a great wrong was finally being set right again. Stranger things had happened.

He just hoped that the universe didn't wind up paying for what had happened here today. He almost laughed as he realized that he actually did care about things like that now that he actually had a family of his own to care about him.

He finally made a decision as he said, "Ushas?"

"Yes?" Marissa asked.

"Will you marry me?" Koschei asked as he produced a huge White-Point Star diamond ring from his pocket and got down on one knee.

She smiled at him as she said, "Yes! Of course I will. I've only been waiting to say yes to you for hundreds of years now. What's your hurry, Koschei? What suddenly made you ask me now?"

"I finally realized that this was the right time," Koschei said.

"What made this the right time?" Marissa asked curiously.

"Because for the first time in my life since the drums started I'm really truly happy," Koschei said as he gave her a tender kiss.

Even Shehzadi couldn't hate him in that moment.

**To find out what happens to the War Lord next and to see what she does with the potion that she stole check out Jenny Tyler, Time's Angel Chapter 70 coming soon or you can come back here next time for a brief recap.**

**Next: After Marissa finds out from Rose what happened to the War Lord and the stolen potion, she is spurred on even more to start hiring people to work under her in her new job and also starts setting up a new team to tackle alien invasions. Who will she choose? Also Marissa starts making plans for her wedding and picks the time, place, and her Maid of Honor while Koschei picks a Best Man. We'll also see exactly who Marissa's current traveling companions are these days as all of the supporting cast of this story are all finally set into place at last.**


	5. A New Era Begins

CHAPTER 5

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! **

A NEW ERA BEGINS

Harriet and Lucy were waiting for Marissa and Koschei outside of the TARDIS as soon as they left it. They quickly explained what had just happened to them including how Koschei had finally proposed to her.

Marissa could tell that both of them were genuinely happy for her as they congratulated her. Lucy actually seemed to be relieved as a matter of fact.

Lucy had a smirk on her face as she looked at Koschei and said, "I see you've been up to your usual handiwork. I can tell it was you because there's a trail of dead angels leading up to here."

"If I hadn't done that, then you and Harriet would be the ones lying there dead instead. As much as you annoy me, I'd rather Harriet not have to die so I decided to pick the two of you over the Angels," Koschei said defending himself.

"Thanks. I think," Harriet said.

"You're still just as charming as ever I see, Harry. Why is it you want to marry him again?" Lucy asked Marissa.

"I don't know. I'm just a glutton for punishment I guess. Or maybe I can just see the good man that he is deep down inside," Marissa said.

"You must have a microscope," Lucy said grinning.

"I like her more and more," Shehzadi whispered with a smirk as Lissa glared at her.

"Do you think that you can warn Rose about what just happened?" Lissa asked Harriet as she tried to change the topic.

"I usually find that I don't have to tell Rose anything. She usually knows before I do," Harriet admitted.

"Same here. I did try to get through to her though, but she won't answer her phone. She's getting to be just as bad as the Doctor," Marissa said.

"Stop being insulting, Mari," Rose said as she suddenly appeared next to her.

It was an attempt at humor, but Rose wasn't smiling. Marissa knew then that things were bad.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I tried to keep it safe. I really tried. Lissa even used the TCE on the War Lord, but she still escaped with it. Lissa's been upset ever since then," Marissa said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want it to happen. I did my best to stop her, but that just wasn't good enough. Did you manage to stop her from using it?" Lissa asked worried.

"I'm still in the middle of trying to actually. The War Lord escaped and managed to fix herself. She's perfectly fine now, and she gave the vial that she stole from you to the Angels. Right now Jenny and I are right in the middle of fighting a whole group of Angels with Vortex powers who can turn into Time Lords and back again," Rose said.

Lissa looked at her in horror as she said, "So you've come here to get some help? I'll go. This is my fault anyway. I should be there to clean up my mess."

"No, I just came here to warn you in case we fail. They plan on attacking Gallifrey next, and I'm sure that they'll come for Earth too sooner or later. I wanted you to have a team ready to meet them if they make it this far," Rose said.

"Let me go and help. I beat her once so maybe I can do it again," Lissa said.

"No. You got lucky, Lis. If you go up against her again, she'll kill you. Don't even think about it. Stay here and help your mother," Rose said firmly.

"I can help," Lissa protested.

"No. You're not going. Do you understand me? Rose is right. She will kill you," Marissa said.

"This is my fault, and I need to make up for it," Lissa said.

"No, it's not your fault. There's no way that you could have stopped her. No way at all. You did the absolute best that you could," Marissa said.

"You have to say that. You're my Mum. I failed. It's my fault. I could have stopped her, and I failed," Lissa said crying.

"No, you didn't. There was nothing more that you could have done. You need to understand that. If you had tried any harder, you would have just been killed too. She was just too powerful for you to stop by yourself. It took me a long time to realize that I couldn't blame myself for not stopping something that was completely out of my control," Lucy said surprising everyone.

"You sound as if you speak from experience," Marissa said.

Lucy looked at Koschei as she said, "I do."

"I'm truly sorry," Koschei said.

"I know," Lucy said softly.

Lissa wasn't sure that she believed that she was blameless or not, but she appreciated what Lucy was trying to do. She touched her shoulder and said, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," Lucy said smiling at her.

She was beginning to like Lissa a lot and didn't like seeing her upset. She reminded her of who she used to be once before she ever met Harry Saxon. She wondered if she had ever been that young and naïve. Apparently she had been.

Marissa looked at the beginnings of a friendship developing between Lissa and Lucy and smiled. Maybe Lucy wasn't so bad after all. She had made her daughter feel better after all when no one else could. She decided to be friendlier to the woman in the future.

Rose smiled as well as she said to Marissa, "We humans can still surprise you sometimes, can't we?"

"Stop calling yourself human, Ari. That really annoys me when you do that," Koschei said.

"I'm just admitting what I am in my heart. I've always been human even before I actually became one," Rose said.

"Do you have something against humans?" Shehzadi, who was half human, said to Koschei in irritation.

"Not as much as I used to," Koschei said.

"Well, you need to work on that a little more then, don't you?" Shehzadi said.

"Congratulations on the baby and the wedding by the way, you two," Rose said.

"Why am I not surprised that you already know about that? Did you tell her about it?" Marissa asked Lissa.

"I had nothing to do with it," Lissa said grinning.

"I'm the Bad Wolf. I know many secrets. You can't keep much from me, Mari, no matter how hard you try. Oh, and I'd love to be your Maid of Honor if you'll have me. I'm just saying," Rose hinted.

"I'll let you know. Don't you need to be there to help Jenny instead of here discussing my wedding with me?" Marissa asked.

"I am there, Mari. This is a duplicate that I created with Vortex energy. I guess you are right that I shouldn't be dividing my concentration between two places right now though. I just wanted to warn you that you might have something really bad coming your way soon. See you later, Mari. Hopefully at your wedding," Rose said as she vanished.

"I'll never get used to Rose being able to do that," Harriet said.

"Now I really need to get moving and pick an Earth Defense Team fast. I already have at least one person in mind for it, but I haven't asked him yet because you're not going to like it," Marissa admitted to Koschei.

"It doesn't matter how I feel. You'll have to get them together quickly. The Earth needs to be defended," Koschei said.

Then he laughed as he said, "Did I just say that?"

"You did," Marissa said as she kissed him.

"I wonder if it's cold down in the netherworld right now," Lucy said.

"Want to find out?" Koschei said.

"Hey! Don't talk to her that way even if you are kidding," Lissa said.

Both Koschei and Lucy looked at her in surprise as Lucy said, "It's okay. I know it's just a joke. A very sick joke."

"It's not okay. Don't do it anymore, Dad," Lissa said.

Koschei nodded as he said, "I'm sorry, Lucy, Lissa."

"That's better," Lissa said.

"Lissa's got a new friend," Shehzadi said in a sing song voice.

"Shut up, Freakzilla!" Lissa said.

"You come over here and make me if you think you're tough enough," Shehzadi said.

Marissa started to say something and sighed instead. Why bother? The two sisters smiled at one another and laughed in the next moment anyway.

"Why does so much insanity run in my family?" Marissa muttered to herself.

"You're just lucky I guess," Koschei joked.

"Maybe we should go now, girls, before I hurt someone. Namely a certain someone who loves to wear black," Marissa said.

"The Shadow?" Koschei asked hopefully.

"You wish. Come on, I have to visit Torchwood," Marissa said.

"Oh, no. You mean your first choice is . . ." Koschei said starting to look nervous.

"You've got it," Marissa said grinning as she interrupted him.

"That's going to be awkward," Lucy said looking at Koschei sympathetically.

"Tell me about it," Koschei said as he marched off to the TARDIS as if he was going to his doom.

Marissa's TARDIS soon materialized in the middle of Torchwood in the middle of the night, and Marissa was immediately greeted warmly by Captain Jack Harkness as soon as she stepped outside. He grabbed her and hugged her tightly as he swung her around.

"Mari! It's so nice to see you! How are you doing? Are you still with . . . him?" Jack asked.

"I'm afraid so. I'm going to marry him too," Marissa said smiling at him.

Jack looked at her skeptically as he said, "I don't know whether to congratulate you or tell you that I'm sorry."

"Maybe you should do both just to make sure," Marissa joked.

"So are you here to invite me to the wedding?" Jack asked as he carefully set Marissa back down.

"That's not the main reason, but I really would like you to be there. If you think you could make it," Marissa said.

Jack smiled at her as he said, "I wouldn't miss it for the world, Mari. Is it okay if I secretly hope that a group of Daleks come by and kill the groom before it finishes though?"

Marissa laughed at him as she said, "Sure, why not? Just don't call Oswin and ask her to do that for real."

"Aw, you spoiled my special wedding day surprise for you," Jack joked.

Marissa grinned at him as she finally decided to get down to the reason that she was really here and said, "Jack, I suppose you've heard about my new job now."

"Oh, yeah. I was really glad that it was you too. I actually breathed a sigh of relief. I don't think that I would have trusted anyone else but the Doc or Rosie in that job," Jack said.

"How did you know about that? It just happened today?" Lissa asked as she and Shehzadi left the TARDIS.

"I make it my business to know everything especially when it impacts me. How are you doing, Lis?" Jack asked.

"I'm doing great for someone who just unleashed a new even more horrible version of the Weeping Angels on the universe," Lissa said.

"I thought you were feeling better about that now," Marissa said in surprise.

"I am but I still haven't quite gotten over it just yet. I'm getting there, Mum. Don't worry," Lissa said.

"It wasn't her fault, Jack, plus she saved my life. She's a hero," Shehzadi said proudly.

"I know she is. It's good to see you too by the way. I must say that you're looking good, Zadi. If I wasn't married, I'd be flirting up a storm with you right now," Jack said winking at her.

Shehzadi blushed as she said, "Don't let that stop you on my account."

"Shehzadi!" Marissa admonished her.

"I'm kidding, Mum. I know he's happily married," Shehzadi said as she rolled her eyes at her.

"Wait a minute. You think she looks good, but you don't say one word to me? What's that about?" Lissa asked indignantly.

"I don't think of you that way, Lis. You're like my little sister. Sorry. You are incredibly gorgeous though of course. I wasn't trying to say otherwise," Jack apologized.

"That's more like it," Lissa said.

"Jealous?" Shehzadi asked.

"Of you? Please!" Lissa said groaning.

"I'm sorry, Jack. They're being exceptionally annoying today for some reason. So the reason I came here is to ask . . ." Marissa said.

"Of course I'll join your little team, Mari. You need someone with my good looks on there anyway in case you need to do some negotiations with other alien races. I'm ready and willing to flirt with aliens of all kinds in order to keep the Earth safe," Jack said as he interrupted her.

"You already know about my Earth Defense Team idea? Are you bugging Downing Street or something?" Marissa asked in disbelief.

"I'm just that good," Jack said grinning.

"Good. I may have to call on you very soon then. You can call me by phone or you can go down to my swank new office on Downing Street. That reminds me that I need to have someone answer the phones there and run the office. I'd ask Donna but she'd deck me," Marissa said.

"Yeah, that's probably not a good idea. She's busy enough with the Bad Wolves as it is anyway. Although technically you could make her do it because you're her boss now since you have ultimate power over UNIT. I wouldn't try to order her to though. Not if you want to keep that regeneration. I guess you're my boss too come to think of it. You're certainly the best looking boss I've ever had for sure," Jack said.

"Even when you're not consciously flirting you're still flirting, aren't you? You just can't help it," Marissa said laughing.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Jack said.

Koschei cleared his throat loudly as he poked his head out of the TARDIS and said in an extremely jealous voice, "Don't we need to ask other people to be on this team of yours or is Captain Innuendo going to stop an alien invasion all by himself by boring them to death?"

That was when Jack said in a low voice, "This doesn't mean anything."

"What?" Marissa asked.

Suddenly Jack wrapped his arms around her and kissed her right on the mouth. He immediately let go of her and she whispered, "Did you do that just to make him jealous?"

"Yeah, I did. Sorry, Mari. It doesn't mean anything I promise," Jack whispered back.

"It's okay. I understand why you did it. I'm not sure that you really should have though. He's looking at you like he wants to add you to his doll collection right now," Marissa said.

"Mission accomplished then," Jack said grinning evilly.

"I'd better go now before he decides to test his TCE on you. Goodbye, Jack," Marissa said.

"Way to go, Mum!" Shehzadi said while Lissa glared at her.

As soon as they left together in the TARDIS, Koschei said, "What was that?!"

"What was what?" Marissa asked.

"You know what. Why did he do that?" Koschei demanded.

"You're not married to me yet, Koschei. I can kiss whoever I want," Marissa said.

"You will not! I should go back there and rip Captain Homewrecker apart. Maybe I will too. Shrinking him is too good for him. Maybe I should hypnotize him into kissing a Weevil. Let's see how handsome he looks then, huh?" Koschei said in a furious voice.

Marissa laughed at him as he said, "I love it when you're jealous."

She then gave him a passionate kiss to show him just where he stood with her while Shehzadi made gagging noises in the background until Lissa slapped her. Once Marissa pulled away from the kiss, Koschei had completely forgotten what he was even mad about. It couldn't have been too important whatever it was he was sure.

After that, Marissa quickly assembled a team that in addition to Jack would include Susan, who she was really looking forward to seeing again, Leela, her sister Kali, Tegan Jovanka, Nyssa, K'anpo Rimpoche, Melanie Bush, Sabalom Glitz, her future mother-in-law Eurydice, and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. She had managed to ask most of them in person and they had all readily agreed to join together when she needed them in order to help protect the planet from invasion.

There was one of them that she hadn't asked in person yet though, Melanie Bush. Her husband, K'anpo, assured her that she wouldn't have any problems in helping her however. She wasn't quite sure that K'anpo understood the history between her and Mel though. She did try to kill her once after all, and Mel had never met this version of her so she wasn't sure if she had ever forgiven her for that or not. She supposed that she would have to deal with that later though, and she really didn't look forward to it.

At least now she had every job filled except one. She needed someone to run her office for her and answer her phone. She had a person in mind to ask about that, but she wasn't quite sure how she would respond to her request.

There was no time like the present though to find out.

Marissa landed her TARDIS outside of Rose's school for the children of time travelers where her friend and traveling companion Molly Hunter worked as a teacher.

"Hello, Sis! It isn't time to pick me up from work just yet. I still have a few hours left to go," Molly said.

Marissa smiled at her. Marissa, Molly, and Oswin were so close to one another that they all thought of each other as sisters and called each other Sis. Marissa was very fond of Molly and actually did think of her as a part of her family. Molly now lived with her on the TARDIS because she had no place of her own after her home had been destroyed and her family had been killed by the Daleks. Lissa and Shehzadi both adored her, and she got along well with both of them.

Even Koschei tolerated her and never gave her any trouble. Marissa thought that he secretly liked her but didn't want to admit it because she was human. The only human that Koschei had ever admitted to liking was Oswin because he knew just how special that she was to her. If it hadn't been for Oswin's advice and kindness towards her when she was a human child, she might still be the Rani even now.

"I've come here to offer you a new job, Mol. I've just been given a job . . ." Marissa started to say.

"I know! I'm so happy for you too. Oh, and congratulations on the wedding by the way!" Molly said as she interrupted her.

"Now how did you know about all of that? It all just happened today! Is everyone bugging my TARDIS lately?! What do you, Jack, and Koschei take turns or something?" Marissa asked in complete disbelief.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Mari. I learned about it from the usual source. Ace. She just heard about it from Rose. You know what a blabbermouth Rose is sometimes. Now everybody in the school knows about it, and they'll tell everyone they know too," Molly said grinning.

"At this rate, everyone's going to know before I can even send out a single invitation," Marissa said in dismay.

"So is that what you came here to tell me?" Molly asked.

"No, I came here to offer you a job. Do you want to work with me in my new office on Downing Street answering phones, handling incoming traffic, filing, etc.? I'll understand if you don't," Marissa said.

"Well, I've never done that kind of thing before, but I guess if I can handle Ace I can handle anything. Can I still teach here sometimes? I'd miss this place if I couldn't," Molly asked.

"Of course you can. I'm sure I can work out the schedule so that you can do both jobs. I'll probably use my TARDIS as my office most of the time anyway so you won't have to hang out there too much," Marissa said.

"I'll take it then. I'm going to work in the government. I can't believe it. My sister is a minister!" Molly said excited.

The two of them embraced as the rest of Marissa's regular TARDIS crew now came to join them: Peri Brown, the Doctor's old traveling companion and now Mari's, and Peri's young daughter, Janine. Both of them had become like family to Marissa and her daughters as well. Koschei at least tolerated them even though he and Peri were still just a tad distrustful of one another since they had met before when Peri traveled with the Doctor, and they hadn't exactly gotten along.

Well to be more accurate, Koschei had tried to kill Peri twice. Admittedly Marissa as the Rani had helped him the second time. It wasn't the best way to begin a friendship, but thankfully Peri had forgiven her since then. They were the best of friends now, and she was forever grateful for that.

"Congratulations, Mari, on the job and the wedding. Oh, and on the pregnancy. Now that that's such a surprise. I'm sure Lissa is breathing a sigh of relief that she's definitely going to be born now," Peri said.

"I certainly would be. It must be horrible not to know if you're going to be erased from history at any minute. What's really going to be weird is that I'm going to be growing up with little Lissa and babysat by big Lissa at the same time. That's going to be confusing for all of us," Janine said.

"You'll get used to it. Don't worry. Besides that, why do you think Lissa always liked you so much?" Marissa said grinning at her.

"You mean because we grew up together?" Janine realized in shock.

"You've got it. It's all very, uh . . . How can I best explain it so that you can understand it?" Marissa said to herself.

"How about you just say that it's all very timey wimey? It seems to work for the Doctor," Peri asked laughing.

Marissa grimaced as she said, "I really hate to admit it, but I guess it's as good an explanation as any. It's a bit too simplistic though."

"It works for me," Janine said grinning.

"Well, now that Molly's taken on the job I'll leave you all here until the school day is over. I have to start arranging things for the wedding anyway. Boy, has this been a busy day or what?" Marissa said with a sigh.

As she turned to leave, Molly stopped her and said, "Wait a minute! You didn't tell us anything about the wedding. So come on. Spill! Where is it, when is it, and more importantly who's your Maid of Honor?"

"You get right to the point, don't you?" Marissa said laughing.

"Well, are you going to answer or what?" Molly asked impatiently.

Marissa grinned as she said, "Alright, I'll tell. The wedding's going to be in one month on Skaro, and Oswin's going to be my Maid of Honor. I bet I even know who the Best Man is going to be too, but I'm not sure yet. I'm sorry, Molly. I'm sure you thought I might pick you, but I love Oswin dearly. I always promised that spot to her. I hope you and Peri don't mind being bridesmaids though, and Janine can be the flower girl. Maybe I can have some of the Daleks sing for us. I hear that their opera is divine."

As Molly and Peri exchanged a look about that last remark, Molly said, "No, that'll all be fine except for maybe that part about the singing. That's just what we were expecting anyway. We just wanted to be sure that you'd ask us."

"Of course I was going to ask you. Who else would I want to be there? Of course Lissa, Shehzadi, and Kali will be bridesmaids too. I really hope that Kali doesn't get too bent out of shape that she isn't the Maid of Honor. I'm sure it'll be fine though. She and Oswin haven't tried to kill each other for ages now so I don't think that there will be any problems," Marissa said.

Peri whistled at the thought of the two Guardians going at it as she said, "I hope I'm not anywhere around if they do go at it. So do you think that the Doctor is going to be the Best Man?"

"What do you think? I dropped Koschei off at his house on Gallifrey before I came here. What else could he have been going there to ask about? I guess we'll know soon enough," Marissa said.

"Yeah, I'm sure that Rose will be along to tell us in no time," Molly said laughing.

"I bet she will," Marissa agreed.

Meanwhile back on Gallifrey, Koschei quickly found that for once the Doctor was all alone inside of the House of Lungbarrow. He couldn't help but think to himself that the old him would have used this as the perfect opportunity to kill him.

Of course he was pretty sure that he had come here to ask him to be his Best Man and not to kill him. He was almost sure anyway. He would have to see how he felt about him when he actually came face to face with him.

He found the Doctor doing repairs inside of his TARDIS which was parked in the House. He wasn't surprised at all about this. The TARDIS had always been the Doctor's true home after all and always would be.

"Yes," the Doctor said as soon as he saw him.

"What?" Koschei asked in surprise.

"Yes, I'll be your Best Man," the Doctor said grinning at him.

"How did you know that I was coming here to ask you that?" Koschei asked.

"You're not the only one who can bug other peoples' TARDISes you know," the Doctor said.

"You still don't trust me any more than I trust you, do you?" Koschei asked laughing.

"Not in the slightest," the Doctor admitted.

"Do you think that we'll ever be as close as we were again, Doctor?" Koschei asked in a sad voice.

"Yeah, of course we will. It'll just take a little time. We were deadly enemies for hundreds of years after all," the Doctor said.

"You've become friends again much more easily with other old enemies of yours though. You're good friends with Ushas and Eris again, and Ushas even killed you once. That was an accident of course," Koschei said.

"I know it was. She's still apologizing to me about that. There's a big difference between them and you though, Koschei," the Doctor said.

"What's that?" Koschei asked.

"They're both much prettier than you," the Doctor said laughing.

Koschei groaned as he wondered if maybe he should have tried to kill him after all. No, he had made his choice, and he would stick with it. If he made fun of him in his speech as the Best Man like he had to Jack at his wedding though, then he would show him no mercy.

As Koschei began to laugh at the thought of that, the Doctor said, "Thinking of killing me if I mess up the wedding?"

"You know me so well," Koschei said smiling.

"Don't worry. I learned my lesson when Jack's wife, Penny, tried to strangle me with my own bow tie. I won't make any jokes about you at all although I'm sure it would be very easy for me to with that outfit of yours and that stupid looking smile that's always on your face," the Doctor said.

"Don't tempt me to rethink killing you, Doctor," Koschei said.

"I think what's going to mess things up is that Dalek opera. Did you hear that Marissa wants them to sing at the wedding? I'm going to bring earplugs and a fireproof fez just in case," the Doctor said shuddering.

"I'll soon put an end to that, Doctor. The last time I heard Dalek opera I ended up almost exterminating myself just to get away from it. It's the most horrible music in the universe," Koschei said.

That was when the Doctor pulled out a recorder like the type that his second incarnation used to use and said, "I know. The Daleks just have no taste in music. Speaking of which, you won't believe what I found when I was cleaning out one of the TARDIS' storage rooms. I found my recorder! I still remember how to play it too. It's just like I never stopped."

As the Doctor started to play the recorder, Koschei groaned loudly and put his fingers to his ears as he said, "I stand corrected."

As he fought the powerful temptation to either kill the Doctor or himself in order to get away from the awful din, he couldn't help but wonder how long it would be before Rose vaporized that thing. He hoped for the sake of the entire hearing universe that it would be very, very soon. If the Doctor showed up to the wedding with it, he might just have a new doll to add to his collection.

**Next: It turns out that Mel hasn't forgiven Marissa after all and in order to convince her to let K'anpo be a part of her Earth Defense Team she's going to have to go see her on Iceworld to prove to her that she really has changed. During the process of doing so though, Iceworld is attacked. What are the odds? They're pretty great actually when Urak and the other Tetraps who used to serve the Rani on Lakertya see the two of them being together at once as the perfect opportunity to get revenge on the both of them. Koschei and the Doctor may just have something to say about that though! **


	6. The Day of the Rani

CHAPTER 6

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! **

THE DAY OF THE RANI

Marissa materialized her TARDIS right outside of the bar on Iceworld where she had agreed to meet with Melanie Bush. Apparently Mel had wanted them to meet in a place with plenty of people in it because she didn't trust her.

No, that was an understatement actually.

Mel still hated her for what had happened on Lakertya and didn't want her husband, K'anpo, to have anything to do with her. She was afraid that she would kill him. It wasn't exactly the start of a perfect friendship.

After Marissa saw Mel sitting at a table by herself with a terrified look on her face as she waited for her to show up, she instantly stopped in her tracks and hesitated to walk up to her. She felt so guilty for what she had done to her and knew that she deserved every bit of the hatred that she felt towards her. She started to turn around and leave without saying anything to her when she was stopped by K'anpo.

"Hello, Ushas. Going somewhere?" K'anpo asked.

"She looks so scared, Master K'anpo. I don't want to add to her pain. I've already caused her enough of it already. It's better that I just go I think. I'll choose someone else for my team in your place. No offense," Marissa said.

"She's frightened of the old you, Ushas. Once she meets the person that you are now, she'll come around I assure you. If she can put up with the Doctor's antics in his sixth incarnation, then my Mel will give anyone a second chance even the Rani," K'anpo said as he smiled at Mel with absolute love on his face.

Marissa laughed for a moment and then became filled with sorrow once again as she remembered that it was she who had killed the Sixth Doctor even if it was by accident. She would always carry that guilt with her for the rest of her lives. His was just another name in a long, long list of lives that she had destroyed, and Mel had come so close to being on that list herself. She could barely stand to look at her because of that.

"I almost killed her you know. She could have easily been killed when the TARDIS crashed too just like the Doctor was. She was also almost blown up by one of my traps," Marissa admitted.

"That was a different person. You've changed so much since then, and you're trying to make up for what you've done. Mel will see that once she gets to know you again. Don't worry so much, Ushas. It's amazing really. It's almost as if your personality has come full circle once again. You act so much like you did in your first incarnation now. It's almost as if your spirit was regenerated somehow along with your body. You're just like you were when I used to teach you and your friends Venusian Aikido back on Gallifrey," K'anpo said with a fond smile of remembrance on his face.

"I never was as good at it as the Doctor, but I wasn't that bad either. I remember overcoming Koschei in a practice fight one time and kicking him in a very sensitive area when he protested about being beaten by a girl. It was the first of many kicks there over the centuries. It's a wonder I ever became pregnant," Marissa said laughing.

"Really? You're pregnant? Congratulations, Ushas. I didn't know," K'anpo said as he gave her a quick hug.

"Thank you, Master K'anpo. You must not talk to Rose very often or you'd probably know the whole story by now," Marissa joked.

"Please just call me K'anpo. I haven't been your teacher in a long time now. Arkytior's not that bad of a gossip as you try to make her out to be, Ushas," K'anpo said.

"Right, and the Doctor's only slightly eccentric," Marissa said grinning.

"Well, you've got me there," K'anpo said with a small smile.

Then Marissa's hearts sank as she realized that Mel was looking at her from her table. The curiosity on her face meant that she was probably already figuring out who she was.

Marissa berated herself as she said in a low voice, "Of course she's figuring it out. She's Mel. She has an eidetic memory and recalls everything that she's ever seen and heard. She probably memorized my body language and already knows who I am just by watching that alone."

"Mel's good but she's not that good I don't think. She's probably just wondering who you are. She may even be jealous," K'anpo said grinning.

"Oh, shut up," Marissa said with a slight grin on her face.

"Let me introduce you to her as Marissa. I bet she won't even know you," K'anpo said.

"I – I'm not sure. I should just go, K'anpo. I don't want to cause her any more pain," Marissa said in a sad voice.

"Go on, Ushas. It's going to be okay,' K'anpo said encouragingly.

Marissa nodded and allowed K'anpo to take her over to Mel's table. Marissa watched with fascination as Mel's facial expressions changed from curiosity to worry and back again over and over again as she slowly walked towards her. She never saw suspicion, hatred, or recognition there, but she did see a flicker of what might have been jealousy in her eyes once or twice surprisingly enough. Maybe K'anpo was right about that after all.

She didn't have to worry about her though. Marissa had only ever had eyes for one man her entire life apart from her romance with Shehzadi's father which happened while she was human for a time and had lost her memory. She didn't know why she loved this particular man so much, but she did even if he did have an ego that almost rivaled the Doctor's.

"Thinking about Koschei?" K'anpo asked.

Marissa looked at him in surprise as he laughed and said, "I could always tell even when you were young. No one else ever puts a smile like that on your face."

"Hello, I'm Mel, K'anpo's wife, and you are?" Mel asked as she suddenly met them halfway.

Marissa noticed how Mel stressed that she was K'anpo's wife and couldn't help but smile just a little bit before her face turned grim as she said, "I'm afraid that you probably won't enjoy meeting me, Mel. I'm the . . ."

"She's one of my old students from the old days when I used to teach back on Gallifrey. Her name's Marissa these days. Isn't it, Marissa?" K'anpo said as he looked at her meaningfully.

_I don't want to lie to her._ Marissa said to him telepathically.

_I want her to get to know who you really are first before she judges you based on her preconceptions of who you are as the Rani. Just indulge me in this, alright?_ K'anpo replied back.

_Okay, but I'm going to tell her that you made me do it if she asks._ Marissa said with a small grin.

_You would too, wouldn't you?_ K'anpo replied with a mental sigh.

_In a heartsbeat._ Marissa answered as she tried not to laugh out loud.

"So you're just old friends?" Mel asked hopefully.

"Yes, Mel. I used to be one of Master K'anpo's students. I was very good but not as good as the Doctor was, and he never let me hear the end of it either," Marissa said.

"You know the Doctor?" Mel asked now as she stared at her with her full attention.

"Yes, we're old friends. I'm known him since we were children. He used to drive me insane back at the Academy," Marissa said.

"You do know the Doctor then," Mel said laughing.

"Marissa just decided to pay me a visit for old time's sake. I just had to have her come and meet you. I always have to show everyone just how lucky I am," K'anpo said as he looked at Mel proudly.

Mel smiled as she said, "I just wish that you had figured that out years ago and that I hadn't been too afraid to ask you out either."

"Yes, well even the best of us can make some really huge mistakes, but that doesn't mean that we can't be forgiven for them, does it?" K'anpo said as he looked at Marissa in a pointed manner.

Mel looked at him strangely as she said, "Yeah, of course. So how long are you staying on Iceworld, Marissa?"

"I'm just here for a short visit. I came here to meet someone. I'm not so sure that they'll want to see me again though so maybe I should just leave," Marissa said.

"Nonsense. They'll learn to love you once they really get to know you. Everyone does," K'anpo said.

Mel knew that something was going on here, but she wasn't sure exactly what. It seemed as if Marissa was dying to leave, and K'anpo was keeping her here for some reason. Why could she want to leave so badly?

Despite the mystery surrounding her Mel was glad for the distraction to her nerves that she was providing. Marissa was keeping her mind off of having to meet the Rani for the moment, and for that she would always be eternally grateful to her. She had had nightmares all night about her and had been shaking the entire past hour at the thought of having to see that horrible woman again.

She still couldn't believe that K'anpo actually trusted her and wanted to go to work for her. No, scratch that. She couldn't believe that anyone trusted her much less that the Prime Minister would give a top government job to her. It must be some kind of trick. Maybe the Master had hypnotized everyone into liking the Rani or something. She certainly wouldn't put it past him.

"Are you okay?" Marissa asked Mel with concern in her voice.

"What? Why do you ask?" Mel asked.

"You're shaking and you look frightened by something. Are you alright?" Marissa asked already fearing what her answer would be.

Mel hesitated and then said, "I'm supposed to meet someone here today too. Since you're a Time Lord too, you've probably heard of her. Her name's the Rani. I have to admit that the thought of meeting her again terrifies me."

Marissa started to become filled with grief and shame as she said, "It's okay, Mel. The Rani won't hurt you. I promise."

"How do you know that? She's liable to do anything. She's extremely dangerous. She already took the person that I cared about the most in the world away from me once. I don't want her to do it again. I don't want her to hurt my husband," Mel said as she began to shake with terror.

"Mel, I told you that she's changed these days. She isn't like that anymore. She's a good person now just like she used to be long ago," K'anpo said.

"I know that's what you think, but I know her too well to ever believe that, K'anpo. She's fooling you. Somehow she's fooled everyone, but she'll never pull the wool over my eyes. I know her for what she is no matter what she says. I know her to be a monster. She's the monster who killed the Doctor. She killed my best friend," Mel said in tears.

"The Doctor's not dead, Mel," K'anpo said.

"My Doctor is. My Doctor died the day that the Rani caused the TARDIS to crash. Yes, he regenerated and lived on, but he was never the same after that. He became someone else entirely. He was manipulative and devious and I . . . I just wasn't sure that I trusted him anymore. I mean I did trust him never to do anything to me, but he was more willing to do things that were questionable than even my Doctor was. I know that my Doctor was hardly a saint, but I quickly noticed a huge difference between him and the next one. He played people like they were all pawns on a chess board, and I always felt like I was one of them. In the end, I couldn't wait to leave when it became obvious that Ace was going to start traveling with him too. I knew that she would take care of him and that I no longer needed to be there so I left while I could. The Rani took my best friend away from me forever, and I'll never figure her for that," Mel said in an emotional voice.

Marissa burst into tears and quickly found herself wrapping her arms around Mel as she said, "I'm so sorry, Mel. I'm sorry."

Mel looked at her in absolute confusion and surprise as she wondered why this perfect stranger cared so much about her story or her feelings. What was going on here?

"How touching!" A voice that was familiar to both Marissa and Mel said nearby.

They both turned to see Urak, the Tetrap who had worked for the Rani back on Lakertya when Mel had first met her. He led a whole group of the bat like aliens that Marissa immediately recognized as being the same ones that she had turned into infants before the last time that she had crossed paths with them.*

"That's right. I found a way to reverse what you did to my men, Mistress Rani, once I escaped from the prison that you threw me into. Now we are all free once more and ready to gain our revenge on you. Fortune seems to be smiling on us today because now it seems that we'll also gain a chance to gain revenge on the Doctor's annoying little human as well. She would often hurt our sensitive ears with her annoying, piercing screams," Urak said with malicious glee.

Mel pulled away from Marissa in horror as she said, "You're the Rani?!"

"You didn't know? Oh, the expression on your face is priceless!" Urak said as he laughed at her in joy.

The Tetraps all quickly pointed their guns at Mel, K'anpo, and Marissa as Urak said, "Now, we will finally gain our revenge on both of you, and then we will find the Doctor and kill him as well in order to finally make our day complete."

"It looks like this really is your lucky day, Urak, because I'm already here," the Doctor's voice said from nearby.

"Where are you?" Urak said as he looked around everywhere for the Doctor but couldn't see him.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Do you really think that I'm that stupid as to run out and shout to you where I am?" the Doctor asked from his hidden place.

"Yes, actually. I certainly wouldn't put it past you given your past track record," Marissa couldn't resist saying as she began to smile.

"You shut up! I wasn't asking you. I was asking them," the Doctor said in an agitated voice.

"Find him! Find him and kill him!" Urak ordered as two of the Tetraps went off to look for the Doctor.

Marissa's smile widened as she heard the distinctive sound of Koschei's laser screwdriver going off nearby and heard the two Tetraps scream out in rapid succession. Koschei was here as well it seemed.

"It looks like the impossible has happened, Master K'anpo. Koschei and the Doctor are working together," Marissa said happily.

"The Master's here too? How could the Doctor ever work with him? Has the whole world gone insane except for me?" Mel asked.

"Well, the Doctor's always been a bit mad, hasn't he?" K'anpo said trying to make her smile.

"A bit?" Marissa asked with a smirk.

"I heard that. Don't worry, Mel. I'm going to deal with this lot in no time," the Doctor said from his hidden location.

"They're not the only ones that I'm worried about, Doctor," Mel called out to him as she eyed Marissa with a frightened expression on her face.

"You don't have to worry about her, Mel. She's changed since the last time that you met her," the Doctor said in a sympathetic voice.

"So I keep hearing but I don't believe it. Not by a long shot," Mel said.

Suddenly more Tetraps screamed out nearby and Urak said, "Can no one kill those two?! I will give whoever finds them and ends their lives forever their pick of humans to drink from on this ship."

"They drink blood?" K'anpo asked with disgust.

"Plasma actually," Marissa said.

"You must have really hit bottom to have worked with them. No offense," K'anpo said.

"None taken. I must admit that I did scrape the bottom of the barrel when I had to hire them. No one else would work for me at that point in my life though. No wonder," Marissa said sadly.

"Enough! I know how to stop them! Doctor, Master, I will now kill either the Mistress Rani or Mel in five seconds if I don't suddenly see both of you standing in front of me," Urak threatened.

"Wait, I'm coming!" the Doctor said in a worried voice.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Too late. Now the human must die!" Urak said.

"No!" K'anpo said before he was grabbed by several Tetraps.

Urak smiled and then fired his gun directly at Mel. To Mel's complete shock, Marissa immediately ran in front of her and took the blast that was meant for her. She screamed out from the impact despite herself but didn't fall.

"Ushas!" Koschei screamed in fear from somewhere nearby.

Urak laughed at the now weakened Marissa who stood looking at him defiantly even as she began to shake all over from the pain that seemed to be burning its way through every nerve ending in her body. Marissa's usual kind features twisted into those of the Rani as she called forth her inner darkness to protect herself and Mel from what she knew was to come.

"You were lucky that time, Mistress Rani. You will never survive another hit like that one though," Urak said as he aimed his gun directly at her head.

"Ushas!" Koschei called out amid the sounds of guns being fired somewhere nearby. He was obviously being kept from her by the other Tetraps who were keeping him busy.

Marissa had no idea where the Doctor was but he was no doubt busy with the Tetraps as well, and even K'anpo couldn't escape the combined strength of the half dozen Tetraps who were holding him back. He was trying to escape but she knew that he never would in time to save her and Mel from being fatally shot.

It was now up to her.

"Say goodbye to everything that you care about, Mistress Rani," Urak said as he began to squeeze the trigger on his gun.

Marissa dashed forward quicker than Urak's eyes could follow her and grabbed the hand that he was holding the gun in in a grip like steel with one hand while she wrapped her other one tightly around his neck. She now smiled backed at the other Tetraps as she forced Urak to point his gun at his own head.

"You know, gentlemen, Koschei isn't the only one who can manipulate people's minds with hypnotism. I can do it as well just not as expertly as he can. I can do it well enough to get the job done though. If you don't get off of this ship and leave everyone here alone in the next minute, I'll command poor Urak here to blow his own brains out," Marissa said.

"She's . . . bluffing," Urak spat out through Marissa's tight grip on his windpipe.

"Am I? Am I really? Look into my eyes and tell me if I'm bluffing or not. Go on. Do it!" Marissa challenged the Tetraps.

They all looked into her eyes and saw nothing but their own destruction there. They shuddered at the level of hatred and anger that they saw there and then immediately ran in terror from her.

Marissa began to laugh as she said, "You have some very loyal friends there, don't you? I bet right now you're wishing that you'd just left them where they were, huh?"

"Don't expect me to grovel for my life because I won't. Go ahead and kill me if you want. You've won today, Mistress Rani," Urak said.

Marissa's features began to soften now as she said, "My name is Marissa Queen and I'm the one who's won here today, Urak. I've won because I'm not going to kill you. The Rani wants to though believe me. She wants to crush your skull beneath her fingers! I won't let her though because I'm not her anymore, and I never will be again."

"That's a very pretty speech, Marissa, but it doesn't really matter in the end. If you don't kill me now, I'll just keep coming back over and over again until I either kill you or someone that you love. Either way I win!" Urak said cackling in triumph.

"You're right. You're absolutely right of course. I can't let you come back again, can I? I suppose I'll just have to deal with you permanently then, won't I?" Marissa said.

"What?" Urak said in surprise apparently not expecting her to say that.

"Ushas?" K'anpo asked questioningly.

Mel began to back away from Marissa as she knew that she was about to do something horrible at any moment. She definitely didn't want to be anywhere around her when she began to unleash her true self at last.

"Goodbye, Urak," Marissa said as she pulled a pill out of one of her bracelets and put it in front of his mouth.

"Take it," Marissa commanded.

"No!" Urak screamed in fear as he clamped his mouth together tightly.

"Take it! I command you!" Marissa said as she immediately took control of his brain while her eyes bored into his.

"Ushas, don't! You don't have to do this. It's all over with now," the Doctor said as he and Koschei finally managed to reach them.

"Ushas, I hate to say this but he's right. Don't destroy yourself along with him. You're so much better than this. Don't do it," Koschei said.

Marissa smiled as she said, "Trust me."

Then she made Urak take the pill. As soon as he did, he began to scream and started changing right in front of them as Marissa quickly let him go.

All of them looked on in absolute amazement as Urak changed from a Tetrap into a human male in a matter of moments. Then he looked up at Marissa with horrified eyes as he said, "What have you done to me?"

"You terrorized the humans here so I thought it was only fitting that I turn you into one for a while and see how you like being human. Now you're just as helpless as they are," Marissa said.

"You can't do this to me. Please change me back and I'll never bother you again," Urak pleaded.

"Don't worry about it. You will change back, Urak. Eventually," Marissa said smirking.

"What does that mean?" Urak asked in horror.

"It means that you'll remain that way for three months," Marissa said.

"Three months?! I can't live like this for three months! It's horrible! It's filthy and disgusting! You have to change me back now!" Urak screamed.

"Sorry, I can't. Once you took it, it was three months or bust. Just think of it this way, at least I didn't give you the permanent pill. If you ever bother me or my family and friends again especially Mel, then I will give it to you. That means that you'll be a human forever. Understand?" Marissa threatened.

"Y-y-yes. I won't bother you again. I promise. Please take me away from her, Doctor. Please!" Urak said in absolute terror.

"Gladly. I'm proud of you, Ushas," the Doctor said as he started to take Urak away with him to his TARDIS.

"Where are you taking him?" Koschei asked.

"I'm going to give him to UNIT. They can make sure that he keeps his promise," the Doctor said.

Then he stopped for a moment and said, "Mel, are you alright? I didn't even ask. I'm sorry."

Mel smiled as she said, "Yeah, I'm fine, Doctor. I'm a little scared out of my wits but otherwise okay."

"Good. I'm sorry that I couldn't get here sooner. You know I never would have let anything happen to you if I could help it," the Doctor apologized.

"I know. Thank you, Doctor. Do you think that maybe you could come back sometime and let me get to see you for longer than five seconds this time?" Mel asked.

"Of course. I'll be back in five minutes. At least I hope I will. I never can tell what the TARDIS is going to do. I'm pretty sure that I will though. I'll definitely do my best to get here in time this time," the Doctor said as he hugged Mel.

"It's okay. Just get here when you can. I'll wait. Some people are worth waiting for," Mel said as she hugged him back.

"Can I go now? I'm already sick enough without having to listen to this!" Urak complained.

"Oh, shut up. Maybe being a human for a while will be good for you. It may be just what you need. It did wonders for Ushas after all," the Doctor said as he carried Urak away with him into the TARDIS.

As soon as the Doctor left, Koschei wrapped his arms around Marissa and said, "Are you alright? I heard you scream."

"I was shot but I'm okay," Marissa said.

"Are you sure? What about Lissa? Is she alright?" Koschei asked in a terrified voice.

"I think so. She seems to be. I'm pretty tough so I think I'll . . ." Marissa said and then her voice broke off as she started crying.

Koschei held her as sobs wracked her body uncontrollably now. He knew without even having to ask what was wrong with her. She was heartbroken that she had had to call on the Rani to save herself.

Mel put a comforting hand on Marissa's shoulder as she said, "I'm sorry. I hope your baby's alright."

Marissa managed to give her a weak smile as she said, "Thank you."

"No. Thank you, Marissa. Thank you. I'm sorry for what I said to you before. Maybe I haven't quite lost my best friend after all," Mel said.

"I don't think that you ever really did. You can trust me on that, Mel. Once the Doctor makes you his friend, it's for life," Marissa said.

"So do I get to work with her now?" K'anpo asked Mel already knowing the answer from the look on her face.

"Yeah, of course. I can trust Marissa with my life after all so I know that I can trust her with yours too," Mel said smiling.

Marissa was checked out by the ship's doctor and was given a clean bill of health for both her and the baby. Time Lords were tougher than they looked after all, and the gun had been set on a lower setting for Mel since she was human so that helped as well.

That was lucky for Urak. Koschei knew that if anything had been wrong with Mari or the baby that trying to reform or not he would have allowed the Master to return and have a little fun with the ex-Tetrap before he finally executed him. He was glad for both of them though that that hadn't had to happen.

Finally the two of them were alone back in the TARDIS as they finally left Iceworld, and Koschei looked at Marissa with eyes filled with warmth and love as he said, "Let's have the wedding this week."

"Really? What's your hurry? Afraid I'll reconsider?" Marissa asked with an evil grin.

"More like afraid you'll get yourself killed first," Koschei said only half joking.

"Mel would have died if that blast had hit her," Marissa said in a serious tone.

"I know but you're the one that I love not her. I would die if anything ever happened to you. You know that, don't you?" Koschei said in an emotional voice.

Marissa smiled and gave him a tender kiss as she said, "Of course I do. I've known that for a long time now, Koschei. I knew it even before you sacrificed all of your lives to bring me back from the dead after the Celestial Intervention Agency killed me.** I never thanked you for that, did I? It was right after that that I became the Rani. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. The only reward I wanted was to see you alive again," Koschei said.

"Liar. I tore your hearts out rejecting you after you sacrificed your entire life cycle to bring me back and you know it. I'm sorry, Koschei. You didn't deserve that so now I'm finally going to make up for all of that. Thank you for what you did. Thank you so much," Marissa said as she gave him a passionate kiss.

Koschei smiled as he said, "That's so good to hear especially after so long, but I meant what I said. The only thing that I ever cared about was that you were alive and safe whether it was with me or not. Of course, I have to admit that you're finally wanting to be with me is a whole lot better."

"I feel exactly the same way about you, my love," Marissa said.

Then she told him her true name. He gasped in surprise, and then he just as quickly told her his. The two of them smiled as Koschei said, "We're really not supposed to do that until we're married you know."

"I know but we're getting married this week anyway so who's going to know? Besides that when did you or I ever care about following the rules anyway?" Marissa said.

"True. I was breaking the rules before I was even born. I've always been bad which worked out great for me because I'm just so good at it," Koschei said laughing.

"You're good at getting into trouble is what you're good at, and I'm good at bailing you out of it. It's a beautiful partnership so why not make it official? I should have done this a long time ago. I would have too if . . . well, you know why I didn't," Marissa said.

"Yes, Arkytior's death just ripped all of our hearts out. I know. Now that she's back though, it's like we've finally gotten a second chance to live again. I'm not going to mess it up this time either. I love you, Ushas, and I'm never going to leave your side ever again," Koschei said.

"I love you too and I'm never going to leave you again either, Koschei. From now on, it's the two of us together forever," Marissa said.

"Heaven help the universe," Koschei joked.

"Heaven better help it if it ever tries to get between us again," Marissa said.

"It wouldn't dare. Even the universe knows better than to get on your bad side by now," Koschei said as he gave her a tender kiss.

"It had better," Marissa said meaning it.

If anyone dared to try to keep them apart from now on, they would definitely live to regret it.

***This happened way back in Oswin Oswald, Time's Guardian Chapter 4. It seems just like yesterday when I did that.**

****See Tales of Gallifrey Chapter 15 for the full story.**

**Next: It's time for the wedding of Marissa and Koschei at long last and as you might guess this wedding is definitely not going to be a normal one. From Dalek opera to the Doctor's Best Man speech and impromptu recorder playing to the uninvited guests who decide to crash the wedding this one's got it all in terms of everything that could possibly go wrong. Why would you want anything else anyway? Normal weddings are boring. The Doctor said so.**


	7. A Wedding Centuries in the Making

CHAPTER 7

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

**Thank you for your favorites, follows, and reviews! **

A WEDDING CENTURIES IN THE MAKING

The Daleks on Skaro weren't quite sure what to make of the preparations for the upcoming wedding that was about to take place there. It seemed very strange to them to be hosting the wedding of the Master (who had once been executed on Skaro) or to have guests like the Doctor or Rose Tyler there and not be allowed to exterminate them.

The strangest thing for the Daleks to see that day though was the sight of their Empress, Oswin Oswald, in a long white dress. They weren't used to seeing her all dressed up like that and they were now continuously staring at her the entire time as she oversaw the final preparations for the wedding.

Marissa of course noticed this right away and just had to comment to her best friend about it.

"It seems like the Daleks think that you're as gorgeous in that dress as all of the men here obviously do, Clara," Marissa said laughing as she called Oswin by her true name.

"Stop it, Mari! Daleks don't think of humans as beautiful. Their concept of beauty is very, very different from ours believe me. Their concept of good music is very different too. I still don't know why you want Dalek opera there. I'm their Empress and even I can't stand to hear it. Have you ever actually heard any of it before?" Oswin asked.

"Of course I have. I admit that it's a bit of an acquired taste. It takes some getting used to but I like it. I think that everyone else will too if they just give it half a chance," Marissa said.

Oswin looked at her in disbelief as she said, "You're not right in the head, Mari. I'm afraid that you're going to wind up having people leave this wedding in droves if you expose them to that awful caterwauling. Oh, well. I tried to warn you. So the men are watching me, huh? I haven't noticed that myself. I have noticed quite a few of them watching you though, and you're not even wearing your dress yet. I think Koschei might start a war before the wedding is over with if they don't stop. I've never seen him so jealous before."

"I think that's why they're doing it. It's their last chance to bug Koschei before we're officially married. I know for sure that Jack keeps staring at me on purpose just to get a rise out of Koschei. He just loves to get him angry," Marissa said laughing.

"I think it's a good thing he's immortal then because Koschei or more likely Penny might just put that to the test if he keeps it up," Oswin said with an evil grin.

"Penny knows that he's just doing it to bug Koschei. She knows that he doesn't feel that way about me. We're just very good friends. Try telling that to Koschei though. He's even jealous when the Doctor hugs me, and everyone knows that he only has eyes for Rose. I'm surprised that Koschei doesn't punch the Doctor out the way that he looks at him whenever he does that," Marissa said.

"I wouldn't be surprised at all if Koschei didn't just hide you inside of the TARDIS and never let you out again as jealous as he is. Then again if he ever tried that you'd probably make him lose a regeneration or three," Oswin said smiling.

"More like I'd make him lose some important pieces of his anatomy and he knows it too," Marissa said.

Then she suddenly hugged Oswin tightly with no warning, and Oswin let out a startled gasp of surprise. The Daleks around her all looked at her with momentary concern, and then once they realized that she wasn't in any danger they immediately redirected their attention back to glaring at the Doctor. They kept alternating their focus between him and Oswin the entire time as their desire to exterminate the Doctor kept competing with their curiosity over the reasons for their Empress' new look.

"Sorry if I surprised you, Clara. I just miss getting to talk to you like this. We never do anymore since you started leading the Daleks. I expect to see you a lot more after the wedding," Marissa said firmly.

"You will from now on. I promise," Oswin said meaning it.

"Aren't you going to get dressed? The wedding's about to start soon," Rose said as she walked up to them.

"I will in a minute. I'm just trying to make sure that Koschei is behaving himself before I leave him alone for a long time. I don't want to come back to find him causing trouble especially not here on Skaro. Somehow I don't think that the Daleks will put up with him for very long, friendly or not," Marissa said.

"Don't you worry about him, Mari. I can handle him if he gets out of line. I'm not sure that I can say the same about the Doctor though. He's liable to do anything. I'm just warning you about that right now. Oh, and, uh, he brought the recorder," Rose said with a grimace.

"What? I thought you got rid of that thing!" Marissa said with a sigh.

"So did I. I've already disintegrated it about five times now, but somehow he just keeps getting it back. I don't know how he's doing it. He must have about a hundred of them hidden away somewhere in the TARDIS or something," Rose said grinning.

"Knowing the Doctor like I do, I wouldn't doubt it. He's not going to make another horrible Best Man speech again is he? I'd really hate it if my wedding ended with Koschei killing him. He's been really good about not trying to do that lately," Marissa said.

Rose held up her hands in surrender as she said with a grin, "I can promise nothing."

"I may have to get the Daleks to protect the Doctor," Oswin said laughing.

"That would certainly be a switch, yeah?" Rose said smiling.

Marissa looked out at all of the guests in attendance and smiled. She was so happy at the huge turnout and never would have expected that so many people would care enough to come considering her and Koschei's respective pasts. She would always be eternally grateful that she had been given a second chance like this even though she knew deep down that she in no way deserved one.

"Yes, you do. You're the best person that I know," Oswin said as she guessed her thoughts from her expression.

"Thank you, Clara," Marissa said in an emotional voice.

"Go on and get dressed, Mari. I'll keep Koschei from starting any trouble until you get back. I promise," Rose said with a wink at her.

Marissa reluctantly left as she hoped that she didn't return to find Koschei in a fight with half of the people there. She had a reason to be worried about that because that exact situation had just happened a few days ago back on Iceworld after someone had hit on her in the bar there. She was still apologizing to Mel and K'anpo over that.

As Marissa went to get dressed, Koschei emerged from his dressing room in his best suit (all black of course) and smiled as he saw that all of Marissa's friends were there. He was even glad to see Kali there. He was amazed that Kali seemed to be acting relatively normal and hadn't tried to pick a fight with Oswin over her being made Maid of Honor over her. Maybe Kali was mellowing with the years. After all if he could change anyone could right?

Soon everyone was seated and in place waiting for the ceremony to start as Koschei stood up front trying not to notice how everyone kept looking at him like he was about to start something at any minute. He had no idea where he had gotten this reputation as a constant troublemaker from that he had acquired. He hadn't gotten in a fight in at least a couple of days now. The last one was back in that bar where he had taught someone a valuable lesson in respect after they made a wolf whistle at Marissa.

He'd heard that half of the clientele in Iceworld's bar were still limping after that one. That would teach them to hit on his wife.

He smiled from ear to ear as he realized that he had just thought of Ushas as his wife for the first time. It felt so good to finally be able to call her that after secretly hoping for so long in his heart of hearts that somehow someday that she would come back to him again. He didn't want to admit it to her because he didn't want to hurt her, but part of the reason that he had finally stopped fighting the drums was because she drifted apart from him like she did.

He had stopped wanting to be a good man after losing both her and Arkytior at almost the same time. He hadn't seen the point in it anymore. Perhaps that was why he had grown to hate the Doctor as much as he did. The Doctor provided him with someone to take all of his anger and frustration out on in addition to having someone to blame. He had always blamed him for not saving Ari.

Perhaps he had been unfair. It was just that the Doctor as annoying and irritating as he was just presented such a good target. How could he resist making him his mortal enemy for so long?

Finally the wedding started to get underway at last as Karen Pond arrived to marry them. She was the President of Gallifrey and therefore had the power to legally marry anyone as a result. He could see that Karen was overjoyed and knew that she (and by extension Amy since Karen was her clone) had been waiting for this for a very long time now and was thrilled to be the one to finally marry them at last. Cliodna had always tried to get them closer together back in the old days. She had always believed that they would make the perfect couple and she was so right.

Not that he'd ever tell her that.

"Well, where's the bride? Do you think she finally wised up?" Karen joked after the wedding music was played five times and Marissa never showed.

"Very funny. I'm sure she'll be along any minute now," Koschei said in annoyance even though he had to admit that he was now starting to get worried.

What was taking her so long?

Finally he saw her walking down the aisle at last only it didn't set his mind at ease in the slightest because something seemed to be wrong. First of all, she was wearing a veil over her head. She had never told him anything about that. Also she was moving all wrong. Her body language was completely different.

In fact, it was so different that he was almost positive now that something was wrong.

He immediately pulled his laser screwdriver out of his jacket pocket and pointed it at her as he said, "Where is Ushas? What have you done to her?"

Rose was immediately up on her feet as she said, "Koschei, what are you doing?!"

"That isn't Ushas," Koschei insisted.

"Why did you bring your laser screwdriver to your wedding? Who does that?" the Doctor asked in disbelief.

"Shut up, Doctor! This is serious," Rose said.

"Yes, I know. More serious than you know, Rose. He's right. That's not Ushas. I don't know who it is, but it's definitely not her," the Doctor said as he started to scan who everyone thought was Marissa with his sonic screwdriver.

"A Malmooth. No wonder she's wearing a veil. We would have known that she wasn't Marissa instantly otherwise," the Doctor said in surprise.

"Who are you? Where is Ushas?!" Koschei demanded.

"Chan-I haven't hurt her. I'm only interested in hurting one person. You!-tho," The woman in the dress said as she finally removed her veil.

Then in the shock of the moment she pulled out a gun and aimed at him before he could fire on her.

Koschei stood there in disbelief as he said, "Chantho. That's not possible though. I killed you."

Chantho had been Professor Yana's assistant for years, and the Master had killed her almost as soon as he had recovered his memory. He had regretted that for a long time now because she had always been a good and loyal friend to Yana and had always been very kind to him.

Now that kind, sweet woman seemed to be gone forever and only a twisted angry version of her remained. She was yet another person whose life that he had ruined.

"Chan-Yes, you did. I was brought back to life though by someone who hates you just as much as I do if not more-tho," Chantho said in a furious voice.

"Who?" Koschei asked in surprise.

There was someone else who was after him?

"I'm afraid that you'll never find out the answer to that question, Melkur, because we're going to kill you right here and now," Another woman said who sounded very familiar to Koschei as she suddenly stood up from her chair where she had sat in the middle of the seated guests with a gun in her hand.

"Kassia? What is this? Is someone bringing back everyone that I ever killed?" Koschei asked in disbelief.

Kassia was from the planet Traken and had been the step-mother of the Doctor's companion Nyssa. The Master had tricked Kassia into handing the vast power of the Keeper of Traken, the leader of the Traken Union, over to him while posing as a seemingly harmless alien called the Melkur, and he had killed her in the process.

"Let's hope not. I don't think even a planet full of Daleks could handle that many people," the Doctor said quite seriously.

Koschei's guilt increased considerably as he said sarcastically, "Thanks, Doctor. You can always make me feel better when I'm down."

"That's what I'm here for," the Doctor said evidently not getting the sarcasm.

"Kassia, Chantho, I know that you won't believe me, but I'm truly sorry for what I did to both of you. You can kill me if you want as long as you don't hurt Ushas. Let her go wherever she is," Koschei pleaded.

"I don't care about your bride, Time Lord. She's tied up back in her dressed room as per our plan. Chantho was going to kill you after taking her place. She wanted the honor of killing you for herself. Now though it looks like we're both going to get that pleasure. This is for my husband and my entire planet, both of which you ruthlessly destroyed!" Kassia said as she began to pull the trigger on her gun.

That was when the Doctor who was suddenly standing very close to Kassia suddenly pulled out his recorder and played an extremely high note on it that made everyone cover their ears in agony. It also caused Kassia to drop her gun because she was so close to him. In the very next moment, she was shot down by a Dalek.

Chantho had been unaffected by the Doctor's attack because she was too far away from it and now shook nervously as she continued to point her gun at Koschei and said, "Chan-You killed her!-tho."

"No, my Daleks only kill when they have no other choice. They won't kill you either if you'll just surrender peacefully," Oswin assured her.

"Chan-No, he has to die! He killed me after I was nothing but loyal to him for so long!-tho," Chantho said in a furious voice even as she continued to shake with fear at the Daleks who were rapidly coming closer and closer to her.

"I am so sorry, Chantho. I was so wrong in what I did. I know that now," Koschei said.

"Chan-Shut up! You know nothing about right and wrong. I saw that firsthand. How could you just kill me like that when I loved you so?!-tho," Chantho said in a voice filled with emotion.

"What?" Koschei asked completely taken back by this revelation.

"Chan-Of course you didn't know. Why would you? It's not like I ever actually existed to you even when you were the Professor-tho," Chantho said.

"I see that you still had a special way with people even while you were human, Koschei," Marissa said as she suddenly emerged from nowhere.

"Ushas, are you alright?" Koschei asked with concern.

"I'm fine other than a splitting headache. She knocked me out cold with a blow to the head as soon as I entered my dressing room. I woke up just now and saw that my dress was gone and instantly realized what must have happened. I take it from what you said that he killed you, and you're rightfully angry about that as well you should be. He's a changed man now though or I wouldn't be marrying him, Chantho. Believe me on that," Marissa said as she slowly edged closer and closer to her.

"Chan-I don't care what lies that he's told you. He dies right here and now. Then I can finally get on with my life-tho," Chantho said.

"No, that's where you're wrong. You won't be able to get on with anything. If you kill him, you'll have to kill me too because I won't stop coming after you until I make you pay for taking him from me. Do you really want the rest of your life to be spent looking over your shoulder, Chantho?" Marissa asked.

"Chan-Don't come any closer!-tho," Chantho said nervously.

"You're going to have to kill me to stop me," Marissa said.

"Chan-Please stop!-tho," Chantho said.

"You're not a killer, Chantho. I can tell that by looking into your eyes. I know a killer when I see one. Trust me on that. You're not one. Not in the slightest. You don't want to hurt anyone. I can tell. You're just filled with anger over what happened to you and because he never noticed you. I'm sorry about that. I truly am. None of that is going to be made any better by killing Koschei though. Just give me the gun, Chantho. I promise that no one will hurt you if you give up peacefully," Marissa said as she stood right in front of her now.

Chantho gave her the gun and then stood there shaking in fear as she waited for what she was sure was going to be an immediate retaliation from her for what she had done. All that she received was a hug from Marissa instead.

"I'm sorry," Marissa said in a gentle voice.

Chantho began to cry and broke down in her arms as Marissa signaled to Oswin to have her taken away. Two Daleks approached her and led her to a detention area even as another Dalek carried the unconscious Kassia away.

"I guess since Chantho is wearing my dress and I'm already here that I'll just get married as I am. I never was one to stand on ceremony anyway," Marissa said with a shrug.

"That's not necessary, Mari. Wait a minute," Rose said.

Then she snapped her fingers and Marissa's clothing became an exact duplicate of the dress that Chantho had stolen from her. Marissa shook her head. Rose never ceased to amaze her even after all of this time.

Marissa grinned as she said, "Thanks. It looks beautiful. You do good work, Rose. You ought to go in the dress making business."

"Naw. I think I'll just stay in the world saving business. It's much more rewarding and I'll prick my fingers less," Rose said.

Finally the wedding was underway at last and Marissa was walked up the aisle by Jack Harkness who was acting in her father's role since both her Time Lord and human fathers were dead now. Jack smirked at Koschei as he glared at him. Marissa half expected Jack to stick his tongue out at him since the two of them were already acting so childish towards one another.

"I suppose I have to give her up to you, but I don't really want to. I really think that she could do better. Much better," Jack joked as soon as Marissa was standing next to Koschei.

Koschei smiled for once as he said, "To be honest, I think she could too. I'm just glad that she hasn't realized that yet. Hopefully I can keep her fooled just a few minutes longer until the wedding is over."

Marissa softly punched him in the arm as she said, "Oh, shut up!"

Jack leaned over and whispered in Marissa's ear, "I think he likes me now."

"No, he doesn't," Koschei whispered back with a grin.

Then Jack actually did stick his tongue out at him before walking away with a smirk on his face.

Marissa shook her head at both of them and said, "You be nice to him from now on. He's one of my best friends."

"I am being nice. I haven't tried to shoot him yet, have I?" Koschei said smiling evilly.

"Why did you bring your laser screwdriver to our wedding anyway?" Marissa asked.

"I was afraid that someone would attack me. I've made so many enemies over the centuries," Koschei admitted sadly.

"I can't imagine why. You're so nice and pleasant," Marissa said.

"Pipe down, you two. This is it. The big moment. I'm finally going to get you two together!" Karen said in excitement.

"You know it should really be me that does that. I'm the original after all," Amy said standing nearby in an irritated voice.

"Can you legally marry people, Amy? No. I can though so it's got to be me. You could help though I suppose. Come on up here. This is just as much your moment as it mine after all," Karen said as she gestured for her original self to join her.

Amy was now standing next to her 'sister' with a joyful gleam in her eyes as Karen said, "Welcome to the very long awaited wedding between Ushas and Koschei. Now I think that I should wrap this up quickly before any other old enemies of Koschei's decide to pop up out of the woodwork. We could be here all day if that happens."

Koschei frowned at that as he still had never had his question to Chantho answered. Who had brought her and Kassia back and sent them after him? Now he was going to worry about that all through the honeymoon and beyond.

"Worry about our secret enemy later, Koschei. Right now let's enjoy the moment, okay?" Marissa whispered.

Koschei nodded and smiled. He should have known that she could read him like a book no matter how well he tried to hide his innermost thoughts from her.

"Basically I'll cut to the chase and go straight to the vows. I'm afraid that to make it legal I'll have to do it in Gallifreyan though. I'm sorry for those of you who don't understand our language. You'll get the gist of it though," Karen said apologetically.

Rose without any prompting translated for the others in the audience as Marissa and Koschei exchanged their vows and put on their wedding rings. Everyone clapped and cheered as the two of them were married at last and had their first kiss as husband and wife.

Then this whole beautiful moment was marred as the Daleks began to sing. Per a previous request, the Daleks began to perform their greatest opera, The Final Joyous Extermination of Ka Faraq Gatri. The Doctor sank down in his seat and tried to hide because he knew that this was about him. They sang of the slow painful destruction of their greatest enemy while the Doctor started to finger the TARDIS key in his pocket in anticipation of having to make a hasty retreat.

"Why did she request this for? What could possibly have been running through her mind?" the Doctor asked in disbelief.

"I think maybe she's trying to give you a little message to not screw up the Best Man speech, Doctor," Rose said as she laughed at his expression.

"Yes, I kind of got that message from her already, Rose. She didn't have to go this far though," the Doctor said as he put his hands on his ears to block out the horrible noise of the Daleks' screechings.

The Daleks' shouts of joy grew louder and louder as the opera progressed to the huge climactic scene where the Doctor was surrounded by an entire army of Daleks and was finally cut off from the TARDIS. Every Dalek in the area now joined in and shouted up to their tops of the voices in joyous celebration as the powerful scene of the Doctor's extermination was finally reached.

The Doctor looked at Rose with absolute horror on his face as she smiled at him and wrapped a comforting arm around him.

"Don't worry, Doctor. It's just an opera," Rose said over the horrible screeching noise.

"I wonder how you'd like it if an entire race was proudly singing about your death right in front of you," the Doctor said in an indignant voice.

"They wouldn't dare," Rose said as her eyes glowed briefly.

Finally the opera ended as the Daleks sang a glorious celebration tune reflecting their ultimate victory over the Doctor. The Daleks were all in high spirits when the opera was finally over with while many in the audience just looked on in absolute horror.

Oswin immediately took the stage and said, "Doctor, I am so sorry. I didn't know that they were going to do that."

"I didn't either. I told them to perform a different opera. I have no idea why they chose that one for," Marissa said even as she eyed Koschei suspiciously.

Koschei meanwhile could barely keep the smile off of his face as he said, "I guess it'll just be one of those little mysteries that we'll never understand. Who knows why they chose that particular opera to perform here today?"

"You are just downright evil sometimes," Marissa said with a sigh.

"Thank you," Koschei said with a huge grin.

The Doctor now growled in anger as he said, "So that's the way it's going to be, huh? I was going to be nice. Well, you can forget about that now."

"Doctor, don't you dare!" Rose warned as she knew what he was planning on doing when it came his time to speak as the Best Man.

The Doctor's only answer was an evil grin.

_Mari, he's up to something._ Rose warned Marissa telepathically.

You shouldn't have done that. Now you've made him mad, and he's going to ruin the wedding," Marissa said to Koschei in anger.

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist it. Did you see the expression on his face? It was priceless!" Koschei said as he started laughing loudly now.

The Doctor glared at him and began muttering under his breath.

"If you ruin my wedding, I'll personally help Chantho and Kassia kill you!" Marissa promised.

"The Doctor is too kind hearted to ruin your wedding. You worry too much, Ushas," Koschei said nonchalantly.

He was eating his words later when it came time for the Doctor to deliver his Best Man speech. Koschei gasped in horror knowing that it was a bad sign when the Doctor pulled out his recorder as soon as he got up to speak.

"Hello, everyone. I've been asked to make a little speech today about the bride and groom, and that's exactly what I've come here to do. I'm going to tell you the full truth about both of them. I think I'll do it to music too. You don't mind do you, Ushas?" the Doctor said with a grin.

"Doctor," Marissa said in a warning tone.

"Don't worry, Ushas. I won't say anything bad. About you," the Doctor said as he tried not to smile.

He began playing what sounded like a horribly mutilated version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star on his recorder and everyone in the room winced from the sound. Rose suddenly wanted to vanish because she could sense that disaster was coming from the start.

"Let me say that my friend Ushas is a nice, sweet woman and that I'm so glad that she's gotten her life together and is finally happy. I just wish that she had found that happiness with someone else. Koschei is . . . How do I best describe him I wonder? How do you even begin to describe someone whose idea of fun is picking a drunken fight with half a dozen angry Shobogons and then dragging me right into the middle of it? I was black and blue all over for weeks afterwards. I almost had my head ripped off, and I had absolutely no idea what was going on at the time. That was just par for the course when you're around Koschei for too long though. He's always getting everyone around him into trouble," the Doctor complained.

_You never told me about that. What was it about?_ Marissa asked him curiously.

_It was nothing important._ Koschei said as he began to look upset.

_What? What did they say?_ Marissa demanded.

_It was nothing!_ Koschei said furiously.

Marissa was determined to find out more about this later because she knew that he was hiding something from her. She was definitely going to find out exactly what that was too.

The Doctor played another tune on his recorder that hit so many bad off kilter notes that everyone gritted their teeth together in pain. A huge sigh of relief swept throughout the crowd as soon as he stopped playing it.

"Sorry. I'm just a little bit rusty," the Doctor said with a grimace.

"That's the understatement of the century," Marissa grumbled.

Suddenly the flute disintegrated in the Doctor's hand as a stray Dalek blast hit it. The Doctor looked over in the direction that the blast had come from in sudden alarm as he feared that the opera might have inspired the Daleks to commit homicide.

He sighed in relief as he saw Oswin trying to conceal a smile as she said, "Sorry, I must have activated one of my gauntlets by accident."

"I lose more recorders that way. I'm just glad that ever since I lost one during that whole Omega incident that I bought some more in bulk. I've already gone through half of them though because of 'accidents' just like that. Everyone's a critic. They just don't appreciate how cool recorders are like I do," the Doctor said in irritation.

Good job! Marissa mouthed to Oswin who gave her a thumbs-up sign in return.

"Sit down, Doctor," Rose said through a fake smile as she tried to keep things from getting any worse.

"No, I'm not finished yet. Let me tell you more about Koschei. I want to tell you once and for all just what kind of person that he really is. Do you know why he started that fight with the Shobogans?" the Doctor said.

"No!" Koschei said in an angry voice.

"Let me tell them," the Doctor implored him.

"No, you can't!" Koschei said as he briefly looked at Marissa with worry.

"Go ahead, Doctor. Tell us," Marissa said.

"He started that fight because they were all insulting you, Ushas. They were saying that you were just as insane as your sister and that he deserved a woman who was just as out of her mind as he was. He lost his temper then and began attacking all of them at once. If I had known what he was fighting about at the time, I would have been much happier about fighting alongside him. They were wrong to talk about you that way, and he called them all out for it. I helped some but in the end it was Koschei who almost singlehandedly defended your honor and beat the whole lot of them unconscious. That's what kind of man Koschei is deep down. Let's all drink a toast to him," the Doctor said smiling at Koschei as he lifted a glass to him.

Marissa looked at him in surprise after the toast as she said, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to hurt you. They said many terrible things about you and Kali, and I never wanted you to hear them. I don't ever want to cause you any pain. I've already caused everyone else enough pain, and I never wanted to add you to that list," Koschei admitted.

Marissa smiled as she said, "You really are a hopeless romantic deep down aren't you?"

She gave him a passionate kiss even as Koschei felt relief wash all over him. He had been so afraid that her wedding might have been ruined by discussion of that event.

"Good job, Doctor. I'm glad that you didn't give into your evil impulses," Rose said as the Doctor finally sat down.

"I just couldn't do it, Rose. She didn't deserve to have her wedding ruined because he's an idiot," the Doctor said.

"I'm glad that you were the better man, Doctor. Thank you for that," Rose said as she kissed him in gratitude.

The Doctor tried not to smile as he tried to think of another way to get back at Koschei. He hadn't forgiven him after all. He just hadn't wanted to hurt Marissa. Soon though he would get his revenge on Koschei. He would bide his time and strike when the time was right. He would never even know that it was coming until it was far, far too late.

He wondered if itching powder was a good form of revenge. Maybe he could put it in those tacky gloves of his. Or maybe he could tell Ace that Koschei called her a wimp. No, he'd better not do that. He just wanted revenge on him. He didn't want him massacred.

He would think of something amazingly cool, the ultimate prank, and then Koschei would be sorry.

"Don't even think about it," Rose said.

"What?" the Doctor asked as he tried to appear innocent.

"You're going to play one of your terrible pranks on him like you used to do back in the old days whenever he made you angry. Don't, Doctor! Just don't!" Rose warned.

"Of course not, Rose. I'd never do such a thing. I'm not a child anymore," the Doctor said as he crossed his fingers behind his back.

Rose sighed as she wondered what incredibly stupid thing that it would be this time.

The wedding was soon over with and the guests all went home. Marissa and Koschei were now ready to go on their honeymoon but they couldn't just yet. Not until Koschei got an answer to his question to Chantho.

He confronted her in her cell where she was being temporarily kept by the Daleks as he asked her yet again who had brought her back to life. She seemed frightened now and his hearts went out to her because he knew that this was all his fault that she was here now.

"Chantho, I'll try to get them to release you if you'll just tell me who is behind this," Koschei said in a soft voice.

"Chan-I don't know. I never saw them. I just remember waking up alone where I fell when you killed me and you and the others were already gone. The Futurekind were roaming the entire area but they didn't seem to even notice me. Then I heard a voice saying that I had been brought back to life to kill you. I was asked if I accepted this bargain or not. I was told that if I didn't accept it that the Futurekind would be allowed to see me and I would die again horribly. I didn't want to die, and I also didn't want you to get away with killing me so I agreed. Then I found myself somehow transported to this world, and I was told to attack you at your wedding. I only just met Kassia today, and she said that the same thing happened to her back on Traken-tho," Chantho explained.

"It could be anyone then. They just wanted me dead though? Not Ushas?" Koschei asked in a worried voice.

"Chan-They never mentioned her. I believe that it's just you that they hate whoever they are-tho," Chantho said.

"Good. I'm used to people trying to kill me. That doesn't bother me. I'll have to be extra careful that Ushas doesn't get caught in the crossfire though," Koschei said more to himself than to her.

"Chan-You really love her, don't you?-tho," Chantho said.

"I have my entire life, Chantho. It's always been her ever since I can remember," Koschei said.

"Chan-I never had a chance then. At least now I understand why-tho," Chantho said sadly.

"I'm sorry. I truly am. I never should have killed you. I was a different man then, but I've changed now. I want you to have a good life, Chantho. I'm going to get them to release you and Kassia somehow. I can only hope that neither of you tries to kill me again afterwards," Koschei said.

"Chan-I can't make any promises for Kassia but I won't. Not anymore. I just want to go back to my people. They are still alive in this time I presume-tho," Chantho said.

"Yes, they are but this is the far distant past in your planet's history. You may not like it there," Koschei warned.

"Chan-I just want to go home-tho," Chantho said in an upset voice.

Koschei hugged her and said, "I'll do the best that I can I promise."

Chantho looked at him in surprise as she realized that he acted just like Professor Yana now. Maybe Yana hadn't been an act after all. Maybe Yana had been more his true self than either of them thought.

True to his word, Koschei convinced the Daleks to release Chantho and Kassia. Kassia immediately promised revenge but seemed to be more intent on finding Nyssa at the moment. Marissa was more than glad to tell her where she was in an attempt to get her mind off of Koschei for a while. Then Marissa took her to see her and took Chantho back to her own planet in a time long before her own.

She returned to find Koschei waiting all alone for her with a large group of Daleks watching him warily. The Daleks still didn't trust him it seemed and weren't about to take their eyes off of him until he left Skaro.

"Want to tell me where our honeymoon is now? I think after that experience that we're going to need a nice vacation," Marissa said grinning.

"I'll tell you as soon as I'm in the TARDIS. I'm sure the Daleks will be glad to see me go just as soon as possible," Koschei said as he kept a careful eye on them just as they did him.

As soon as Koschei was in Marissa's TARDIS, she dematerialized and he sighed with relief. He really didn't fancy being executed on Skaro again.

"So where to?" Marissa asked eagerly.

"The planet Paradise. It has the most beautiful beaches and the most magnificent sunsets in the universe from what I've been told. Not that I care about that kind of thing. I won't be paying any attention to them anyway," Koschei admitted.

"Why not? Do you have something against having a romantic weekend or something?" Marissa asked playfully.

"Why would I look at such lesser things of beauty when I have the most beautiful sight in the universe already in front of me?" Koschei said as he looked at her in her dress with awe in his eyes.

Marissa smiled from ear to ear as she said, "You always did know just what to say, Mr. Queen."

"Mr. Queen? You're supposed to take my name," Koschei said as he pretended to be offended.

"I'm changing the rules. I do that. Isn't that one of the things that you love about me?" Marissa said giggling.

"I love everything about you. That's just one of many," Koschei said as he wrapped his arms around her.

"You're being so romantic today. Who are you and what have you done with my Koschei? Not that I'm complaining. You can keep him if you want. I like this version of you much better," Marissa said with a soft smile.

"He'll return inevitably. Don't worry. For now though, you're stuck with me," Koschei said.

"That's fine by me. I guess I'll just have to enjoy you while you're here then," Marissa said.

"My thoughts exactly," Koschei said as he began to kiss her.

The two of them began to kiss passionately and with greater and greater intensity by the moment. Soon they were well on their way to starting their honeymoon even as the TARDIS continued on its way to the planet Paradise.

They soon about to find out that their honeymoon was going to be no less eventful than the wedding. Koschei's mysterious enemy wasn't about to give up just yet. Not by a longshot.

For now though, they were enjoying the moment. Both of them had learned a long time ago to enjoy each moment as it came because anything could happen next. Never would that prove to be more true than now.

**Next: Almost as soon as Marissa and Koschei arrive on Paradise, they're attacked by yet another old enemy of the Master's. Who will it be this time and how can they possibly escape? Will the day of their honeymoon wind up being the end of Koschei as well? It just might as one of the most powerful enemies that Koschei ever made finally catches up to him at last.**


End file.
